Reese! Will! Why You Should RSVP Yes to ‘You’re Cordially Invited’
When You’re Cordially Invited started production back in May 2023, who knew the wedding-themed flick would be such a welcome respite during the truly miserable winter of 2025? Now here come the brides, along with two of our most beloved and reliable comedic actors, who make it easy to RSVP yes to this glossy romp (Prime Video, Jan. 30).
Stars Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell get to indulge their over-the-top vengeful sides here due to a simple error. She’s Margot, a hard-charging reality TV producer (we get a silly glimpse of her hit Is It Dead?) planning the perfect I do’s for her younger sister, Neve (Meredith Hagner). He’s Jim, a widower who’s giddy over the impending nuptials of his only child, Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan). They each arrive at the venue — a quaint island resort off the coast of Georgia — only to learn that the events have been accidentally double-booked. Margot is the one with a credit card on file, so she has every right to lay claim to the property… but then we’d have no movie. Instead, she offers to share the weekend. What could go wrong? Everything, of course. Margot has to contend with cut- ting comments from her mother (Celia Weston). And after the careful venue compromises start to fall apart, Margot and Jim turn on each other and plot sabotage. Nick Jonas, who makes a cameo as a hot officiant, even gets pulled into the action! Too bad some of the more diabolical shenanigans fall as flat as the wedding cake in a reception fiasco. By the time Jim wrestles a muddy alligator into a hotel bed, don’t bother trying to figure out who has the upper hand.
It’s more amusing watching the friends and extended families from two very different wedding parties try to coexist. Cringe-y but LOL: At a joint rehearsal dinner forced by the rain, Jim and Jenni fully commit to performing the ’80s romantic duet “Islands in the Stream,” and no, the father and daughter do not shy away from lyrics like “Making love with each other, ah ha.” Margot’s staid guests are aghast.
Indeed, for all the mayhem and dysfunction, You’re Cordially Invited works best as a sweet treat. Witherspoon and Ferrell, who haven’t shared the screen since she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2001, are so innately appealing that it becomes tedious each time their banter and intimate conversations give way to another bout of rage. They even manage to add some zing to the inevitable closing credits singalong. With these talents, we’re ready to set the date.
