Pop Culture Happy Hour - You're Cordially Invited

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

In the raunchy movie You're Cordially Invited, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon face a mortifying conundrum: Their families' destination weddings have been double-booked for the same weekend. They reluctantly agree to share the venue, but, unsurprisingly, nothing goes smoothly as planned. Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors), the movie feels like a familiar throwback to the 2000s.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In the raunchy movie, You're Cordially Invited. Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon face a mortifying conundrum. Their family's destination weddings have been double-booked for the same weekend. The movie feels like a familiar throwback to the 2000s, and it's directed by Nicholas Stoller, who made Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors. I'm Linda Holmes. And I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about Your Cordially Invited on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining us today is the co-host of Slate's ICYMIMI podcast and former PCH producer Candice Lim. It's so lovely to have you back, Candice. Hello. Oh my gosh. Hello. Yay. So nice to have this little mini reunion, especially for this kind of low stakes, but high stakes, according to the characters, movies. So your cordially invited stars Will Ferrell as Jim, a widower whose daughter Jenny announces her engagement. She's played by Geraldine Viswanathan, and Reese Witherspoon is Margo, whose sister Neb is also getting married. She's played by Meredith Hagner. Now, through a series of misfortune events, both families wind up being double-booked for the same location on the same weekend.

Whose credit card you have on file? Let me finish explaining. Yours. So the place is legally... Yours. So whose credit card's on file? You know damn well whose credit card he has on file. Stop saying credit card.

Credit card, credit card, credit card, credit card, credit card. The horror! The horror! They reluctantly agree to share the venue, but unsurprisingly, nothing goes smoothly as planned. You're cordially invited to streaming now on Prime Video, and of course we have to mention that Amazon supports NPR and pays to distribute some of our content. So, Linda, let's start with you. How did this movie feel for you? Yeah, I am sort of the obvious consumer for this movie because a lot of these people are people I have liked a lot in other things.

I like a wedding comedy. I even liked the one where Jennifer Lopez wound up having to fight a bunch of violent criminals. I mean, I felt a little bit underwhelmed by this film. I just didn't think it quite came together. I mean, something like this always needs a certain amount of convoluted business going on in order to create whatever the central conflict is. In this case, I think it winds up feeling pretty obvious that they can accommodate both of these weddings at this inn. And it's not completely clear why everybody was trying to be, like, the only one.

Mm-hmm. Ceremony? Oh, we need the dock. Well, okay. We're willing to split the dock. It's too tiny and narrow. I don't think we can split it. He's correct about that.

Maybe we can split it by time. Yes, we'll take the first half of sunset. And we'll take the second half. In timing, the sunset, even a thing. And the fact that nobody had been in contact with the venue at any time about anything for one of the two weddings. I don't think they did a good enough job making the convoluted, unbelievable stuff, believable enough to kind of make it just flow through the movie. I like the idea of a kind of rom-com element with Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. They're both funny. She is obviously

a rom-com goddess of some renown. I don't think this works as a romantic comedy at all. With that said, there are elements of it that I think are fun. I think the supporting cast is fun. I very much like Geraldine Viswanathan, who was also in Blockers, which is a movie that we really liked. I typically really like Stoller's stuff as well. This was not my speed, but at the same time, I kind of had a fine time sitting around watching it on like a Friday night. It was fine. Yeah, yeah. The one question I had when they were like, okay, we're going to share their venue was, okay, are they doubling the staff? Like, how is this going to work? Or are the staff going to just have to work extra hard to accommodate twice as many people?

questions, labor questions that are not asked in this script and definitely not answered. But Candace, I'm curious what your thoughts were on this. I mean, I lean with you, Linda, where it's like, I walk into this thinking, I should have liked this. I really like Nicholas Stoller's work. I love neighbors. I really liked friends from college. And I really liked bros.

And so to me, I'm kind of like, this guy is here for a good reason. I wonder if they cast Will Ferrell to kind of bring the conversation. and Reese Witherspoon to bring the ROM, which is like a good idea in theory, right? Because the movie I'm thinking of immediately is like the proposal where it's like Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds. You don't exactly expect them to work and that movie is perfect. And so I think they were trying to capture magic in a bottle here, but I'm with you where it's like, I didn't love this movie. And if I'm going to like place it in the wedding film canon for me, I am going to say I do think it is better than Shotgun Wedding, which is the 2020 movie with J-Low and trust you Mel. It is not better than marry me, okay, which has been stubbed multiple times in

the best original song category. But I think like in this pyramid for me, the very top, the apex of it is bridesmaids and the proposal. I think those are two movies that like use the premise of wedding, but they're not really about weddings. And I love that. And I think this movie had like a cast that on paper should work. But I think my first thought is press notes for this film. They keep saying this is Reese's first wedding comedy. I would argue it's not. She's been in a great one called Sweet Home Alabama. I was going to say, Sweet Home Alabama is enough of a wedding comedy. It's certainly a kind of like married or marrying people comedy. Yeah. And the themes are very similar, right, where it's like Southern Girl in the

city comes home, has to interact with her Southernness and kind of have this question of like, am I really of my family? Am I someone else? Da-da-da-da. And then Will Ferrell, I'm also going to argue, has been in a wedding adjacent movie called Stepbrothers. And that is my favorite film of all time. And so I'm mentioning all these movies because I think what they have that this one doesn't is like cleverness and hijinks and a conflict that feels high stakes enough or even if it's stupid, even if you're bringing alligators into people's rooms. It's so funny that you're like, I'm bought it, I'm bought in. I think what's missing is like we don't have that like Kristen Wigg, Rose Byrne singing, that's what Friends are for a moment. We don't have some of these kind of like land onto to be like, well, those are stars. In fact, I'm going to argue I think the supporting cast carried this movie.

But that's where I stand. Okay. Interesting. I hear you and I agree with pretty much everything you say. And yet I think I had way more fun at this than either. You did. Yeah, you love this movie. Okay.

I don't love it. Like, is this going to be a I watch it every year or every few years? No. But when I return to this, I think so. I think that the issue that comes up with them trying to sort of pigeonhole this rom, making this like a rom comedy between Will Ferro. and Reese Witherspoon is the fact that there's just like so much other stuff happening. Yes.

This movie, it hits the hour-long mark. And then I was like, wait. It's too long, first off. It's too long. And there's all these twists and turns and reveals and fakeouts that happen where I was just like, oh, this could have been a tight 90. And it would have been, we say this all the time. But I do think to some extent the way we're supposed to believe at the end that Will Ferrell

and Reese Witherspoon had any sort of like interest in each other beyond trying to get their respective weddings off the ground. Didn't come through. No. Did not come through at all. And so they kind of retcon it in a weird way that is supposed to be funny but does not land. Yeah. That being said, I agree with you, Candice, that the supporting cast definitely, to a large extent, carries this.

I want to shout out someone who has come up several times on this show. I feel like I'm actually usually the one who brings it up. But Kayla Montaroso, Mihea, who is playing Heather. She's the one who kind of screws us up for everyone. Yes. And there's a moment where they realized that she screwed it up, and her and Will Ferrell are yelling at each other about her not confirming. It's so great.

Best scene. You said you handled it. Why don't you just give them your credit card? Well, you said it was reserved. I didn't know I had to double check. So you never even called this place? I have social anxiety, so I just sent emails. You get anxiety from dialing a phone?

I can do anything that doesn't require a phone call. I love those little moments. I also enjoyed seeing Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock playing Leslie, His mother was the former owner of the inn, and now he's taken over. He's fun. It's just great to see those relationships. And if it had just been like a little bit shorter, I think it would have really kind of like crackled because there are moments. There are scenes.

There is chemistry. I also just appreciated seeing a relationship between Margo and Nev, the sisters, Reese Wetherspoon and Meredith Hagner. And the fact that they are the siblings who are like attached to the hip and then the they don't really like the rest of the family, which is something, like, it's a dynamic we don't often see in movies. To see them kind of like dealing with that and their mother's, uh, Flora, who's played by Celia Weston, I enjoyed those moments. It was fun for me. Yeah. One of the reasons I think this is not that satisfying is that these two stories of these two weddings don't really have anything to do with each other. All these people are not connected

to each other. Right. So you have essentially a wedding plot over here that involves a whole family and a whole set of conflicts that they're trying to serve. Another one on the other side that involves a whole family and a whole set of conflicts they're trying to serve. Plus, they're trying to build up this potential romantic connection between Reese Witherspoon and Will Farrell. It's interesting because we've mentioned several Nicholas Stoller projects that people liked. I would call out another one who was one of the creators of Platonic on Apple TV, which I love. I think there are too many stories. All these people know what they're doing. All these people are good at doing this kind of thing that they're doing. But I just think the story didn't quite land for me.

Another person that I would shout out that we have not talked about yet is Jimmy Taitro, who is kind of our leading cultural lunkhead. He was in American Vandal. And then he was in theater camp. And he is so good. And here he is a little bit different, right? He's still a lunkhead, but there's a kinder twist on it. But he still is just to me super charming and funny. I'm always happy to see him. There are tons of things to like about this movie. I just didn't think it coalesced. And Aisha kind of, you know, alluded to it, they try to kind of retcon this romance by ultimately kind of, you know, it's a montage where it's like look back on all these moments where we were in the process of being into each other. But none of those moments were presented that way at the

time. And it's done for comedic purposes, but it's all also makes the romantic element of it not makes sense, just didn't quite come together. But it's not unpleasurable for its individual elements. Yeah. I think it's really funny that you're not mentioning that Jimmy Tatro plays a medic turned stripper. That is very important to me. And I really think he had the one scene of the film that made me laugh out loud where he like is about to strip at the wedding and then Will Ferrell runs in and like interrupts it. And Jimmy's just like, oh, and I'm just like been there. But, Linda, I agree. I think my big issue with this film, I'm seeing a lot of telling, not showing.

And the scene that irked me is when Reese Witherspoon is kind of like getting her anger out, very like Ryan Reynolds proposal style. She's like hitting golf balls into the water. Well, Farrell comes up to her to console her. And within like two minutes, they kind of just like say exactly what the real underlying motivations and issues are. My thing is that I don't think these two characters had earned it by that. point. We are only halfway through the film. I needed more hijings. I needed more saboteurs. I needed more like hidden manifestations of motivation to get us to that place. And what's really funny is I walk out of that scene being like, well, those people are never going to kiss. I was wrong. L.O.L.

Right. But that's the thing. I mean, you're even referring to the montage at the end where it's Will Ferrell's face, I guess, smiling multiple times. To me, that is also telling not true. It is. Because if you were really showing it, you would have planted it slowly throughout the the movie. I'm also going to make the argument. I think Will likes Reese. I do not think Reese liked Will's character. Even towards the end, I was like, I think this is a one side of relationship. Yeah. Again, I hear you. It's all, it was not very well executed. And yet, I think what I, I just found it very comforting to see that this kind of movie is still getting made, even if it is of the lesser quality. And it's like not going to hold a candle to

something like bridesmaids or neighbors. I also just thought it was kind of fun to, see these two actors who they feel like a different generation to me, although he's only like nine or ten years older than her, which is strange. But I guess like I found this to be an interesting way of like looking at both sort of generational, like microgenerational differences between people and how they approach relationships and love. And it's low hanging fruit. But again, I enjoyed the sort of Southern person who comes back and has to deal with

Like, there's a funny scene where her family, Reese Withersen's family is all asking her questions, like, about California. It hit a little close to home. Have you been affected by the floods? No. No? No. Have you been affected by taxes? What?

Have you been affected by the homeless? I don't know, Mom. How's Atlanta? Are you affected by the racism? It was very much a comfort watch for me more than anything else. Something I love about comedies, and I'm really thinking about, like, the stepbrother genre. is the fact that like all of those movies are always great first times and exposures to people you end up loving. I'm thinking about Catherine Hahn and stepbrothers.

That was a role that was probably a few lines and she was so dynamic. She kind of pretty much became one of my favorite supporting characters from then. Yeah. And I think for this film, it's going to be a great kind of like portfolio for people who don't know Geraldine as much or people who don't know Kayla as much. And I think I'm going to give it up to a Leanne Morgan who plays Gwyneth, who is Reese's sister in the movie. She's so funny and sharp. And she's a comedian. And I was like, oh, like that's a person I Google after all of this is done.

And so I think if anything, maybe come into this film not for the lead, but for the supporting. Because I bet you love someone. Yeah. You know? Yes. And I will say, like, when you're talking about the supporting cast, one of the things comedically that did sort of work for me was this these interactions between, Will Ferrell and all of his daughter's friends who has a couple of like confrontations not just with Heather, but with kind of this whole group of friends.

Yeah, yeah. I did think those things were, were quite entertaining and I enjoyed. I was also kind of shocked that like the Wolf Farrell wedding party seemed to be mostly children in like young adults and like barely any adults. I know. Is this just like. Also, she had so many bridesmaids and basically that's your wedding like attendee. Yes.

Interesting. Interesting. There's a lot going on here. And I will say just to add, I do think what I admire about this is even if it doesn't all work, it doesn't feel like a wholly cynical exercise. Like it feels like everyone was just having fun. And, you know, they were doing their best. And I will always be in the, be in the tank for any movie that like even if it doesn't

work feels at least that it was like made from something real, something that doesn't feel just like very cash grabby. Right. Amen to that. I have always said you can tell when a movie is made and nobody cared about it. And I do not necessarily get that feel from this film at all. Yeah. Look, they can't all be Barb and Star. Oh, my God. They just can. Oh, my God. Well, we want to know what you think about. You're cordially invited. I'm sure a lot of you have watched it. Find us at Facebook.com slash PCHH and on Letterboxed at letterbox.com

NPR, pop culture, we'll include a link in our episode description. That brings us to the end of our show, Candace Lim, Linda Holmes. Thanks so much for being here. This was so much fun. Thank you. Thank you, Ayesha. This episode was produced by Hufsafathema and Lenin Sherburn and edited by Mike Katzif. Our supervising producer is Jessica Reedy and Hello, Kamin, provides our theme music. Thanks so much for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Ayesha Harris. We'll see you all next time.