You’re Cordially Invited

On the surface, You’re Cordially Invited has a premise precision-tooled for pure romcom hijinks: two weddings, one venue, multiple sabotage attempts on behalf of each family. And while filmmaker Nicholas Stoller peppers his latest with all kinds of explosive incidents – cake-smashing, dock-destroying, ’gator-wrassling acts of carnage – they somehow prove less interesting than what’s going on under the hood of his protagonists.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, since Stoller’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall always sat on the more heartfelt end of the Apatow bro-comedy spectrum, while his Bad Neighbours grounded its houses-at-war premise in the very real panic of new parenthood. You’re Cordially Invited offers a similarly emotional basis to underpin its set-pieces. Will Ferrell’s Jim is stunned when his college-graduate daughter (Blockers’ Geraldine Viswanathan) comes home with a shiny rock on her finger; he raised her solo after his wife’s death, and throws himself into wedding-planner mode to mask his turmoil. Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon’s high-powered TV exec Margot has long felt disconnected from her family, with a longstanding rift between her and her mother; when her sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) drops the wedding bombshell, she sees her chance to take charge and wrangle back her place in the family.

Ferrell and Witherspoon's quieter moments of reflection prove the highlights.

Throughout You’re Cordially Invited, Jim and Margot’s increasingly desperate (and selfish) attempts to thwart the other’s family nuptials are consistently and effectively anchored to their own insecurities and inadequacies. Ferrell and Witherspoon perform it all convincingly, their quieter moments of reflection proving the highlights here. The trouble is, the comedy topping feels a bit underpowered – despite a talented cast, there simply aren’t enough laughs to fill nearly two hours. And with two weddings, both featuring extended family and friend networks, the material is spread a little thin across an array of supporting characters; the ever-great Viswanathan feels under-used, but gives it her all when she’s on screen (including in some deeply inappropriate father-daughter wedding karaoke).

Still, this is better constructed than it might have been, packed with funny people – Jack McBrayer, Fortune Feimster and Vinny Thomas all bring chuckles in minor roles – and anchored by its two more-than-capable leads. You’re Cordially Invited just about earns a ‘Yes’ on the RSVP.