You're Cordially Invited: Movie Review

Cast: Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner, Celia Weston, Jack McBrayer
Director: Nicholas Stoller

An amiable knockabout comedy that knows what it wants to do but doesn't necessarily always achieve it, Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller's You're Cordially Invited collapses at the end as it heads into deeply unbelievable territory.

Witherspoon plays Margot, the uptight, alienated from her family sister of bride-to-be Neve (Hagner); Ferrell is Jim, the overprotective and overclose father of another bride-to-be Jenni (Viswanathan). When both Margot and Jim book the same small island venue for a dream wedding for their prospective charges, chaos breaks out.

But as the pair decide to work on a sharing basis, things seem to reach an uneasy calm - until misunderstandings creep in.

You're Cordially Invited has moments where unexpected laughs are delivered as it follows a fairly traditional route to its conclusion. With a Ferrell that's more reined in and less showy than he has been for years, the film settles for more humour than OTT edges. And with Witherspoon channelling both perkiness and a brittle edge for the woman scorned by her family,

But the escalation of a Bride Wars-type level rivalry is unsurprising as each tries to outdo the other at ensuring their charges get their ultimate wedding. And as a result, there's only so far the film can go before it begins to stretch credibility - and its final furlong, it reaches breaking point as it appears the writer had no real idea how to wrap things up.

In large swathes though, You're Cordially Invited is enjoyable enough fare that proffers just enough laughs to justify its existence - as a combative duo, the Ferrell and Witherspoon partnership works sufficiently to smoothe through a few of the back half creaks and cracks that emerge.

You're Cordially Invited streams on Prime Video from January 30, 2025.