The premise of You’re Cordially Invited, of two tonally opposed weddings getting booked at an exclusive, remote island in Georgia, is essentially a license for mayhem. That one of the weddings would seem to revolve around an overprotective Jim (Will Ferrell) clinging too hard to his terminally online daughter, Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan), is a hook that’s right in Ferrell’s wheelhouse. The other wedding caters perfectly to the sensibilities of his co-star, Reese Witherspoon, who plays a successful TV producer, Margot, who gets roped into planning the wedding for her sister, Nev (Meredith Hagner), putting her at odds with her rich relatives.
You’re Cordially Invited follows an emotionally honest confrontation about how lonely it can be for Margot to return to her Southern origins after making it in L.A. with a scene where Jim wrestles an alligator. It then follows the abject, purposeful cringe of Jim and Jenni singing “Islands in the Stream” with Margot telling a panicking Jenni that even her mistakes are worthwhile. There’s a rather lovely film waiting to be made from the ingredients here, playing off of some genuinely affecting anxieties plaguing two very different families, but the actual film is ultimately at war with the much cartoonish hijinks that it clearly feels that it’s contractually obligated to provide.
For Witherspoon, You’re Cordially Invited is neither silly enough to let her stretch the comedy muscles that she doesn’t get to flex often enough, nor able to stay focused enough to let the legitimately touching and emotional moments of the film hit home. Meanwhile, Ferrell faces something close to the opposite problem by having to push subtle jokes over the line of common sense into ridiculousness, when You’re Cordially Invited is far more effective playing it straight.
The film’s single most effective joke involves Jim talking about the world’s saddest threesome, with Ferrell hitting a comedic extreme while still staying on brand for his character. By the time You’re Cordially Invited finds the correct mode to operate in, it’s about five minutes before the end credits roll. Meanwhile, it strands several comedic talents—Viswanathan included—with only scraps to capitalize on. It’s a marriage of talents that’s doomed to fail from the start.
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Writing that Reese Whiterspoon’s character has “low-class origins” makes me wonder if you watched the whole movie. Maybe you got this film confused with Sweet Home Alabama. Her family is not low class. It’s referenced in the movie that her mom lives in the suburbs and goes to the local country club. Her sister’s house was going to be featured in Garden and Gun. Maybe this is just regional bias on your part?