‘You’re Cordially Invited’ Review: Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon Go to War Over a Wedding Venue in a Decent Prime Video Rom-Com

A rom-com that's much funnier when its leads are flirting with disaster than it is when they're flirting with each other.

Weddings are such fertile ground for star-driven comedies it seems impossible to reinvent the sub-genre. A few manage to add a new spin to a setting that has been codified by the likes of “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Wedding Crashers,” and “27 Dresses.” “Palm Springs” is an excellent recent example, for instance. “Anyone But You” was less creative but more financially successful thanks to the hottie pair of Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.  

Into this fray enters “You’re Cordially Invited,” written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, whose efforts include “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Neighbors.” Destined for streaming on Prime Video (like so many comedies these days), this matrimonial romp stars Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. While it’s often funny thanks to an excellent supporting cast, it also drags on too long, and comes to an unearned rom-com conclusion. Let’s just say Ferrell and Witherspoon do not ignite the screen opposite one another, although they play fantastically against their various costars. 

Despite the flaws of “You’re Cordially Invited,” there’s a grimness to the fact that it is going to end up in the bowels of Prime Video. The giggles are good enough that it plays well in a room full of people, and Stoller is a proven hitmaker — at least in a different era. But Hollywood’s lack of faith in the comedy as a genre means this film has been relegated to a second tier of release. 

Ferrell plays Jim, a doting widowed dad in Atlanta, whose only daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) announces she’s getting married to dopey DJ Oliver. (Stony Blyden). Jim quickly calls the Palmetto Inn, where he and his late wife tied the knot, to book the venue. Little does he know the elderly woman taking down his reservation doesn’t have a working pen and promptly dies. 

Meanwhile, Witherspoon is Margot, a hard-charging reality TV producer — we see a glimpse of one of her shows, called “Is It Dead?,” which provides a solid gag. Margot is overjoyed when her baby sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) reveals she’s engaged to her exotic dancer boyfriend Dixon (Jimmy Tatro). With Witherspoon’s classic steely determination, Margot resolves to throw Neve the perfect wedding. Their ideal location? The Palmetto, because their beloved grandmother had a home nearby. The old lady’s replacement, played by Jack McBrayer, answers the phone and double-books the place. 

As such, both Margot and Jim arrive on the island on June 1 ready to celebrate. The problem is the place is tiny and cannot accommodate both of them. They quickly resolve to share, and thus hijinks and bitterness ensue. 

The mechanics that are required to get into this mess are a bit labored. We never really find out how the inn manages to fit all these people and where everyone sleeps. And though Jim is supposed to be a man who watches his daughter’s every move, he’s left planning entirely to her bridesmaid Heater. That doesn’t make much sense, but luckily Heather is played by the exuberant “Curb Your Enthusiasm” breakout Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who also steals scenes in “One of Them Days.” 

“You’re Cordially Invited” excels more at these small character beats than it does in its big setpieces, which feel all too predictable. (Doing the ceremony on a small dock? Yeah, someone’s going to end up in the water.) Instead, the joy comes from Mejia doing a dramatic reading of “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!,” and the pair of Leanne Morgan and Rory Scovel as Margot’s other, deeply Southern, siblings. Scovel’s insistence on calling his character’s spouse “the wife” is a bit that pays off well, and Morgan’s rantings about her house featured in Garden & Gun make her a pleasure every time she’s on screen.

Both Ferrell and Witherspoon are trodding familiar ground in their performances. Witherspoon’s character resents her mother (Celia Weston), who she perceives as judgmental of her single life in Los Angeles, in an echo of her “Sweet Home Alabama” snob. She stomps through the movie in heels and tight-fitting dresses wielding her small-but-mighty power. Ferrell, on the other hand, walks the line between sweet and creepy as he plays a guy who refuses to let go of his little girl and thinks “Islands in the Stream” is an appropriate song for a duet between a parent and child. 

The stars click better opposite their characters’ respective clans. Ferrell and Viswanathan are delightful together as they shift between fighting and hugging in a matter of moments. And Witherspoon seems most at ease when she’s riffing with Margot’s chaotic siblings. So when the movie ultimately tries to push Jim and Margot together for a romantic plot line it feels awkward. Witherspoon and Ferrell are fine as enemies. As lovers they lack any spark. 

Ultimately, “You’re Cordially Invited” accomplishes its most emotional moments when it focuses on lonely people trying to connect with those closest to them, but Stoller hamstrings himself by simply making the cast and the circumstances of the plot too big. Instead of one protagonist trying to learn and grow, we have two. Still, the movie succeeds when it’s just letting the talented goofs do their thing, and that’s a small win for a genre that needs it. 

Grade: C+

“You’re Cordially Invited” will be available to stream on Prime Video starting Thursday, January 30.

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