LONDON: Usually, the phrase “less than the sum of its parts” serves as a neat intro to an absolute evisceration of a movie. But in the case of new Prime Video rom-com “You’re Cordially Invited,” it’s a slightly more literal take. Because, as the trailer (and all the promo materials) would have you believe, this Will Ferrell/Reece Witherspoon movie is a high-energy battle royale between a pair of warring wedding planners at a double-booked venue, each trying to ruin the other’s ceremony by (initially) fair means, before descending into a series of foul-mouthed schemes and increasingly elaborate set-pieces.
But there’s actually little of that faux-antagonistic “Bride Wars” vibe about this movie from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Bad Neighbors” director Nicholas Stoller. In an attempt to make the two leads more than just cookie-cutter rom-com characters, each is given a fairly elaborate and emotionally nuanced backstory. Widower Jim (Ferrell) is desperate to throw daughter Jenni a romantic wedding that her mother would have loved, but winds up projecting his fears of obsolescence and solitude onto the young couple, while successful TV producer Margot (Witherspoon) wants to arrange the perfect wedding for her sister Neve, but struggles to hide her resentment towards her emotionally unavailable mother and her frustration with her wider family for not showing an interest in her life and career.
And those emotional complexities wind up being more engaging than the movie’s by-the-numbers comedy beats. Because while Ferrell and Witherspoon are both more than capable of shouldering the burden of the big laughs, these wedding-based capers are nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times before. But a slightly saccharine, slightly comedic take on fears of emotional estrangement and abandonment, fronted by two charismatic leads? That’s something different, at least.
So there’s a degree of frustration that the movie didn’t take the time to at least explore this slightly different direction. Instead, “You’re Cordially Invited” is the kind of film you’ve forgotten the second the credits roll — a fairly satisfying way to waste a couple of hours, but nothing to make it stand out from all those other wedding-based comedies.
