You're Cordially Invited Movie Review: A marital misfire

For the most part, You’re Cordially Invited on Prime Video serves as a test of endurance—both for its characters and the audience. The wafer-thin premise revolves around two families forced to conduct their relatives’ weddings on the same tiny island, on the same day. The resulting chaos, largely driven by the families sabotaging each other’s plans, rarely rises above puerile antics. Some moments—like a boat deck collapsing mid-wedding or a man bringing a supposedly dead crocodile into his bedroom—are so bizarre that it’s hard to tell if they’re even meant to be jokes. The meandering plot further compounds the film’s problems, often making you wonder what the point of it all is.

The film does improve slightly when it shifts focus to its principal cast. Some performances are so engaging that they momentarily lift the material, making you care about the characters despite the film’s reliance on mawkish sentimentality.

Director: Nick Stoller

Cast: Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, and Geraldine Viswanathan

The title, You’re Cordially Invited, is, of course, ironic. On the island, neither Jenni’s (Geraldine Viswanathan) father, Jim (Will Ferrell), nor Margot’s (Reese Witherspoon) family are particularly civil to each other. The film attempts to justify their behaviour, though the reasoning isn’t always clear. Both Jim and Margot are grappling with personal issues—Margot struggles with her mother’s disapproval of her sister’s pregnancy, while Jim, a widowed single father, dreads the loneliness that awaits once his daughter moves away.

Other characters carry their own baggage, but director Nick Stoller reduces these complexities to mere background noise, prioritising slapstick over substance. As a result, the film never fully explores the emotional depth of these relationships.

What makes the film marginally tolerable is its cast—though even they can’t entirely salvage it. Ferrell and Viswanathan are believable as an overprotective father and his exasperated daughter, with some of the film’s best moments arising from her playful resistance to his emotional manipulations. Meanwhile, Ferrell and Witherspoon share a sparkling chemistry that nearly distracts from the film’s flaws.

They bring an earnestness that the script simply doesn’t deserve. These actors merit an invitation to a sharper, funnier, and more insightful film—one with something meaningful to say about modern relationships.