Vous êtes cordialement invités

I am starved for comedy movies. They seem to be nearing extinction. So I sometimes make exceptions to my "I only watch theatrically released movies" rule for a chance at some laughs.

From one perspective, You're Cordially Invited did make me laugh out loud 12-15 times. On the other hand, it feels like another barely mediocre movie that we constantly see from streaming originals.

Will Ferrell has nearly all of the funny parts. Aside from him, I found the majority of the cast unfunny. The failed comedic attempts made me cringe on several occasions. And there are so many stupid moments and things that make no sense in order to make the joke work.

Maybe I'm the wrong demographic. But aside from a few laughs, I did not enjoy this movie.

(1 viewing, 1/31/2025)

I like Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon.

I like Geraldine Viswanathan too.

Hey, I even like some of Nicholas Stoller's work.

But this ain't gonna cut it! Here's another cookie-cutter wedding comedy that fails to rise above its one-line plot. This desperately needed less of the slapstick and more of the dialogue-based stuff. Some deeper themes are added in-such as being disconnected from your family, parental insecurities, and so on. Most of it isn't dug beyond the surface; every problem gets an instantly workable (cinematic) solution. Yeah, well, it's not like you're watching an "Amazon Original Movie", where Will Ferrell grapples with an alligator, for lessons on life. Stoller has written (and directed) better material before (..I'm not naming names). And yeah, I didn't care much about the Nick Jonas and Peyton Manning cameos.

I actually liked it. It was light and funny in an obvious way like it wasn't too much and not lame, the mix was weird but that what actually made it light. Reese witherspoon and her moments with her mom did touched my heart and made me realize how motherhood can be little challenging on both ends and I did relate to that. The accuracy of how gen Z would get married and deal with relationships was portrayed correctly and how they are using synonyms "gaslighting" even though they didn't realize what does it mean.

The dynamics of family, motherhood and fatherhood and all the unexpected feelings that overwhelms us as a family was shown in a cool non obvious way.

Its a mix of everything and fits exactly where it should be.

... Which is pretty dang good! This was a slapstick movie, which usually isn't my genre but I love me some Will and Reese!

Silly, ridiculous, over the top, but it worked for me.

The highlight was the closing credits. That actually took it from a six to a seven.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

I've liked almost every Reese Witherspoon movie I've watched. Will Ferrell rarely disappoints. Putting them together in a comedy seems like a no brainer My issue with this movie is that I knew it would be terrible. Not because of the trailer. Just because this is the norm with straight to streaming movies. One out of ten movies like this are good. They now you don't invest much but 2 hours where you spend half of it scrolling on your phone as you hope to laugh and be surprised. This move doesn't disappoint if you go in knowing it will be bad. Don't expect to laugh out loud

The singing in the post credits scene was the highlight for me.