You’re Cordially Invited to sit through this laugh-free movie

The last truly funny, downright gut-busting, Will Ferrell performance was The Other Guys. Most of Ferrell’s best comedies were made with filmmaker Adam McKay, mid-2000s classics like Step Brothers, Anchorman, and Talladega Nights. But ever since Ferrell played off against Mark Wahlberg as a pair of pencil-pushing cops hoping for their chance at crime-stopping stardom (and Ferrell and McKay’s fruitful partnership eventually came to an end), the returns on his comedic work have greatly diminished. He plays the same character, iterations on the same bumbling goof prone to temper tantrums, which McKay had a firmer grasp on mining genuine jokes and better performances out of. Even Ferrell’s small role in Barbie—his funniest performance in years—is another attempt at resurrecting the past. This is all to say that Nicholas Stoller’s You’re Cordially Invited is just another rung on the ladder of disappointment which has come to define Ferrell’s post-McKay acting career; emblematic of the laziest instincts of modern mainstream comedies and the inability of filmmakers to make Ferrell’s schtick feel fresh. 

The bumbling, good-natured—if hair-trigger—oaf that Ferrell has made his signature endures once more as widowed father Jim, whose young daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) breaks the news that she’s marrying her DJ boyfriend Oliver (Stony Blyden). Shocked and upset at first (a profane outburst ensues in place of actual comedy), Jim relents and happily books his daughter’s wedding venue at the very location where he and Jenni’s mom got married. But when the elderly owner dies in the middle of trying to jot down Jenni’s booking, the owner’s son Leslie (Jack McBrayer) accidentally double books them with the wedding of Neve (Meredith Hagner) and Dixon (Jimmy Tatro), handled by Neve’s older, girlboss sister Margot (Reese Witherspoon).

The two families arrive at the tiny island locale of their respective weddings, where the booking snafu reveals itself to Jim and Margot upon check-in. Hostile at first, the mismatched pair reaches a truce: Though the island is too small to host multiple weddings at once, Jim and Margot agree to swap inside and outside for their receptions and split the sunset timeframe for their ceremonies. All seems settled, and the disparate wedding parties even exhibit signs of earnest camaraderie. Jim and Jenni’s outdoor rehearsal bash gets rained out, and their fratty, fun-loving guests overtake the stately indoor rehearsal dinner of Margot and Neve’s dignified southern family. Margot’s estranged relatives seem charmed by the devil-may-care attitude of their matrimonial counterparts. But a stray comment said in anger by Margot, naturally overheard by Jim, plunges the families’ armistice into all-out war. 

Shenanigans ensue, as both couples’ dream weddings turn into nightmares. Yet this big comic cast is hardly giving anything close to their best. Actors over-emote, contorting their faces in poor attempts at physical comedy, searching with their bodies for jokes that aren’t there. Viswanathan and Keyla Monterroso Mejia (who plays Jenni’s best friend and gave an all-timer cringe performance on Curb Your Enthusiasm) both appear stuck in a high school play where they compete for who can do the most acting. Tatro (who broke out on American Vandal) gets almost nothing aside from an early scene where he’s sneaking selfies with Peyton Manning (why do mainstream comedies always need athlete cameos?). Witherspoon, like Ferrell, is securely within her wheelhouse as a high-strung type-A. Also like Ferrell, she’s doing absolutely nothing interesting within her familiar typecasting. The only consistently amusing actor is McBrayer, just playing another version of Kenneth from 30 Rock. But when McBrayer is given little else to do other than make a nervous face, he at least delivers in spades.

Stoller, who also penned the screenplay, probably wasn’t the director or writer for the job—his comedic oeuvre reached its heights through scripts that he either co-wrote or didn’t write at all. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, handily his best film, was written by star Jason Segel. Without a writing partner, Stoller flounders to write jokes that are jokes and not just a character swearing loudly. That’s 90% of You’re Cordially Invited—isn’t it funny that Will Ferrell is saying “fuck?” And isn’t it funny that little prim and proper Reese Witherspoon is saying “fuck” right back at him? It’s all cheap shots—jokes about how young people are afraid to use the phone and are unemployed because of the economy—or disconnected wackiness, like Jim falling into the river and heaving an alligator back into the hotel in an attempt to get back at Margot. Beyond that, the expected beats are hit, leading to a predictable conclusion and dressed up in the usual nothingness of comedy cinematography (DP John Guleserian also shot Cocaine Bear and He’s All That).

At the screening for this made-for-streaming footnote, studio head Jennifer Salke emerged on stage to introduce the film and referred to Ferrell and Witherspoon as a “comedy dream team.” Whose dream? You’re Cordially Invited is a rigorously unoriginal and uncreative film, in compliance with the flat mundanity of content that the streaming giants want their audiences to bask in. Ferrell’s smiling, goofball face at the forefront of this monotony feels like the waving white flag of an unchallenged artist who would rather just give in.

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Writer: Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro, Stony Blyden, Leanne Morgan, Rory Scovel, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Ramona Young, Jack McBrayer, Celia Weston

Release Date: January 30, 2025 (Amazon Prime)