“You’re Cordially Invited” (2025)
With the trifecta of Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell in front of the camera and writer-director Nicholas Stoller at the helm, I had high hopes for “You’re Cordially Invited.”
While it wasn’t a perfect romcom, I did have a good time watching it and laughed a lot. That should come as no surprise with Stoller, who has made two of my favorite recent romcoms: “Bros” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
Witherspoon plays Margot, the sister of one bride and Ferrell plays Jim, the father of another bride. Things get heated when they discover they’ve double-booked an exclusive venue that only has capacity for one wedding.
One of my favorite Ferrell movies is the under-the-radar romcom “Stranger Than Fiction” (pairing coming to the blog next month), so I was hoping for a down-to-earth story with a few moments of outrageous humor.
“You’re Cordially Invited” definitely has its touching and relatable moments, but it also has a lot of moments of extreme hijinks, making the film feel a little disjointed and perhaps too mean-spirited at times.
Having Witherspoon, one of the queens of the romcom universe, co-lead this film elevates the story past any of those flaws. This role gives her the opportunity to flex those muscles again and also give the movie a bit of an edge, reminding me a little of her iconic performance in “Election.”
It also helps that Ferrell and Witherspoon are surrounded by a stellar supporting cast, from Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro and Celia Weston as members of Margot’s family to Geraldine Viswanathan as Jim’s daughter and Keyla Monterroso Mejia as her best friend and wedding planner.
My biggest complaint about the movie is that the last act of the film felt a little forced, but the post-credits scenes really made up for it. Bring back more musical numbers in romcom end credits!