/socialketchup/media/media_files/2025/01/30/urgURFWAkIcQgBAjL2Bm.jpg)
Even Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell’s charm couldn’t save this snooze of a party. Here’s why!
You’re Cordially Invited review: It’s not like rom-coms on OTT are expected to be a masterclass in the genre. We all go to it for some casual, light-hearted no brainer that we can pass our time with. But even in a frivolous watch, you expect it to entertain you to a certain extent. So you know the bar is low and comic supply is short when Will Ferrell has to fight a fake alligator, there’s a man dancing in a zebra costume (don’t ask) and one of the dialogues says, “let’s go chaos monkey on them”. Yes, that’s the best and truthfully the politest way one can describe ‘You’re Cordially Invited’. Directed by Nicholas Stoller who has previously made popular rom-coms like ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and ‘Platonic’, his latest project makes you get cold feet (pun intended) in the first twenty minutes itself.
You’re Cordially Invited involves two weddings that have been accidentally booked for the same weekend at a hotel. The first wedding is being organized by widowed Jim (Will Ferrell) for his daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan), who he has an unhealthy and clingy relationship with. The second wedding is being helmed by Margot (Reese Witherspoon), a reality TV show producer, for her younger sister Neve (Meredith Hagner). Both Jim and Margot want their events to be perfect and hence it’s a complete bummer when they arrive on the island to find out one of them has to leave. But hearing Jim’s story about his late wife, makes a sympathetic Margot strike a deal with him to split the venue. It seems like a perfectly fine compromise until a few things go haywire and now Margot and Jim are determined to ruin each other’s wedding plans.
Also Read: The Storyteller review: A compelling reminder of the timeless power of stories and the voices that shape them!
The story sets itself as this slapstick comedy of errors but from here on, it’s just more errors than comedy. Will Ferrell being the comedic legend that he is, still manages to get in a few laughs with his comic timing. Reese Witherspoon, who has also been a part of this genre before with her iconic film ‘Legally Blonde’, gives it her best and certainly has unmissable screen presence. But even their talent put together could not save this sinking ship or in this case, should I say the sinking dock? Slapstick comedy is not a genre many enjoy, so if not done with good taste, things could go sour real quick, and that’s pretty much what happened here.
At one point Will Ferrell fakes a heart attack and Reese Witherspoon stirs rumours across the wedding that aren’t true and in both of these moments you can sense how desperately funny the movie is trying to be. And the chemistry between the leads? You don’t wanna open that door!
Jenni and her group friends make you roll your eyes and are just plain annoying with their excessive Gen Zness in your face. One of her best friends says she cannot do activities that need her to pick calls because she has social anxiety, so she only sends emails. When Will Ferrell calls someone ‘lady’, they call him sexist, and neither of them have any sense of direction as to what they want, feel or say. We get the point that the makers were trying to make. The Gen Z’s are fickleminded, we get it! Also, for some reason there's Indian decor and Indian relatives at Jenni's wedding. Are we all just supposed to assume that her mom was Indian when nothing was said about her? It's like the makers forgot to give us character details entirely!
Overall, You’re Cordially Invited is packaged as the quintessential rom-com we’ll all love, but the more it unfolds, the more you realise it’s far away from either of the genres. If the movies of the past have taught us anything, it’s that weddings are a great setting for storytelling and there were a plethora of opportunities to make this look more appealing! But unfortunately, it was all a miss and quite a waste of talent given that the two are capable of doing so much better than what they were concise to in this film.
You’re Cordially Invited is currently streaming on Prime Video!
For more reviews, follow us on @socialketchupbinge.