The premise of You’re Cordially Invited isn’t anything new. Two weddings are accidentally double-booked at the same time, date, and venue. Feelings get hurt. Shenanigans ensue. Weddings get ruined. Hardy har har. The immediate problem with this premise is that, by default, most people don’t want to see a wedding get ruined. So, getting them to laugh at a destroyed wedding, let alone two destroyed weddings, is a tough ask. Cringe comedy is practically baked into that premise.
Right out of the gates, the movie starts with a cringy joke. Alongside a pile of homemade baked goods, Jim (Will Ferrell) eagerly awaits his daughter Jenni’s (Geraldine Viswanathan) return home from graduating college. When he greets her at the door, they go through an elaborate greeting ritual that is neither funny nor adorable. If you laugh at this scene, you will love this movie. If you cringe at this scene, put your watch in your pocket because your chuckles will be few and far between.
Meanwhile, reality-TV producer Margot (Reese Witherspoon) gets a surprise work visit from her sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) and Neve’s fiancé Dixon (Jimmy Tatro), the couple informing Margot they are getting married. Waiting patiently for Margot’s attention is Peyton Manning. Yes, that Peyton Manning. Dixon even points out that Manning is waiting and Margot waives away his concern. Manning says nothing, even as Dixon is not-so-subtly snapping pictures of Manning. While the joke is initially mildly humorous, I found it cringeworthy because it goes on for way too long and Manning is actually pretty good at comedy. Writer/director Nicholas Stoller had an opportunity for some real comedy and chose awkward silence instead.
The setup of the premise itself was also cringy. When Jim calls the desired wedding venue, the old woman answering the phone tells him she doesn’t need his credit card, hangs up on him to look for a functioning pen, then has a heart attack and dies before finding the pen. When Margot calls, the old lady’s replacement takes down her information and credit card to reserve the venue. Jim never follows up and neither does Jenni’s obnoxious friend/wedding planner Heather (Keyla Monterroso Mejia)…for over a year. I know it’s a bit nitpicky, but a heart attack and zero follow-up is arguably the worst possible explanation for the double-booking. And definitely not a funny one.
After Margot wins the argument regarding who actually has the booking, she and Neve have a change of heart after learning that Jim got married on the island and his wife died of cancer. First of all, that’s hilarious. Second of all, no it’s not. Jim and Margot immediately come to an arrangement to share the venue, including rehearsal dinners and receptions. Problem solved, right? Of course not because then the movie would be over.
For the rest of the runtime, the film can’t decide what it wants to be. A straight comedy? A romantic comedy? A sappy, heartwarming family movie? A family drama? A horror comedy? There are so many subplots running parallel to the double-booked wedding premise that the weddings are almost as much of an afterthought as actual jokes. Instead of plumbing comedy out of Margot’s reality-TV-production background, we’re treated to ridiculous southern accents, Margot’s overly horny sister, and Margot mildly butting heads with her disapproving mother (Celia Weston). Instead of letting Ferrell do his thing (full disclosure, I’m not a fan of Ferrell’s typical schtick, but others are), we’re forced to endure Jim and Jenni get into awkward arguments, sing a duet of “Islands in the Stream,” and watch Jim force Heather read all of a Dr. Seuss book as part of the wedding ceremony. And when what little clash between Margot and Jim ensues (after Jim overhears Margot say Jenni has road-whore hair), you’ll find yourself sympathizing with the victims rather than laughing at their misfortune.
I realize that I am tougher crowd than most. I probably set my expectations a little too high because I really wanted to laugh for a couple of hours because 2025 has not started out funny at all. But this film was essentially a less-funny Bride Wars and Bride Wars wasn’t very funny at all. You’re Cordially Invited is a sloppy movie from a plot standpoint and a lazy movie from a comedy standpoint. And don’t even get me started on the very predictably and very cringy romance road that I spent most of the movie hoping they wouldn’t drive down. I told you - this movie wasn’t fully cringy. But it was still pretty cringy.
Rating: Ask for eighteen dollars back and try not to cringe when you do it.
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