Cordially Invited

We are still keeping our thumb on the pulse of streaming service projects and we are shifting gears to Prime Video. Not sure if we’ve covered this but I will watch anything that Reece Witherspoon is in. And there is a new film on Prime Video called Cordially Invited starring my sweet Elle Woods. It looks like a cute little romantic comedy which is just so perfect for her. And her production company helped produce it so you know it's gonna be good. Oh also Will Ferrel is in it, and that is just delightful.

Oh yay. Will Ferrel plays the daddest dad dealing with his only daughter (and only child) getting engaged.

Oh this is totally a movie where Will and Reece called all their friends and said “hey come have a cameo in this new movie”. It's fun, I like it. Peyton Manning is in this.

So this inn double books the weddings of two people and they have to negotiate the use of the inn and the island so that it works for both of them. The funniest part about that is that one wedding is planned by a sorority girl for a couple freshly out of college kids. And the other wedding is classy, old south kind of vibes. So complete opposite groups of people forced to coexist with just all of the family.

Also can I just say that Reece Witherspoon looks really good? Like seriously she is so gorgeous.

This father-daughter relationship is bordering on creepy, Islands in the Stream is not a father-daughter karaoke song. At least the film acknowledges that it's weird. Also I think it's funny that they made the inappropriate relationship be in the family that isn’t from the south. It was just a lot of good writing at once.

She’s so toasted. She is super drunk and that is of course the best time to get up and give a toast.

The vibes of this feel very much like an early 2000s romantic comedy which is the very best era of rom coms.

And of course one of these brides is pregnant. And she doesn’t start showing until the morning of the wedding. And we gave an overhearing scene as is required by romantic comedy law.

The sun is starting to go down and dad is desperately trying to use all the sunlight. You are trying to ruin someone's whole wedding because of what? Your bitter towards the maid of honor? I would literally start removing people from their chairs.

Having Nick Jonas as the Pastor and having him start singing in the middle of the ceremony is actually so funny.

He admits to fully sabotaging her sister's wedding. She isn’t just gonna take that. The fun part is that all the siblings seem to bond together as a family in order to take their revenge. They bond after their little stunt and it's actually a really nice moment.

OOOOHHHHH NO. The freshly married groom is caught making out with a bridesmaid. Sister told dad but he wasn’t ready to believe her until he found out that the new groom is moving his baby girl away from him. Annnnd then of course it was not the new groom. It was a groomsmen and a bridesmaid. The DRAMA.

And sister didn’t actually get her wedding at all, so no reception. So daughter finally cuts the apron strings from dad and Margot actually bonds with the rest of her family. And Margot actually has to bend this rigid view she has of her family. Her family is actually very sweet and welcoming when the couple announces the pregnancy.

The over the top opera singing every time sabotage is about to happen is actually so funny.

This southern family starts to heal itself. I think that maybe we didn’t need the forced proximity plot. The film maybe would have been better if it was only this wedding, and the generational trauma and distant family we were working through. The main plot actually felt like a subplot and I think it ruined the main emotional through line of the film.

I think if they had centered the southern family in the plot then the film would have been a 10/10. But the inclusion of the other family drama kind of just interrupted the story. Some of the comedy didn’t really land for me, but the tone throughout the film was really consistent and reminiscent of the best era for rom coms. Also if it was about 20 minutes shorter, but that really comes from cutting the unnecessary storyline. And then the very forced dad and sister love story was really bad. As it stands we are calling it at a 7/10. It's sweet and funny, just a few adjustments to the writing could have made it stronger.