You're Cordially Invited is a 2025 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nicholas Stoller for Amazon MGM Studios. It stars Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon.
| You're Cordially Invited | |
|---|---|
Release poster | |
| Directed by | Nicholas Stoller |
| Written by | Nicholas Stoller |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | John Guleserian |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Michael Andrews |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Amazon MGM Studios |
Release date |
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Running time | 109 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
When the weddings of widowed father Jim's daughter Jenni and Margot's sister Neve are double-booked at the same small island venue, they both try to preserve the wedding weekend.
The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on January 30, 2025.
Plot
editOverattentive single father Jim is shocked to hear his daughter Jenni is engaged to her boyfriend Oliver. Jim calls to book the small inn on Palmetto Island, Georgia, where he and Jenni's mother were married before her death from cancer. The owner, Scarlett, accepts his reservation for June 1, but abruptly has a heart attack and dies before adding the booking to their calendar.
Meanwhile, LA television producer Margot discovers her sister Neve is engaged to her exotic dancer boyfriend Dixon. She also volunteers to plan the wedding, also booking Palmetto Island, where she and Neve visited their grandmother as children. Palmetto House's new manager Leslie takes their booking for June 1, unaware of the previous one.
On the weekend of the weddings, both parties arrive and discover the double booking. Since the island is too small to accommodate two weddings, Margot initially claims the venue for Neve and Dixon, but they later agree to share the island by alternating between indoor and outdoor events. Neve reveals her pregnancy to Margot, but asks her to keep it secret to avoid upsetting their traditional mother Flora.
At the rehearsal dinners, Jenni's garden party is forced inside by a rainstorm. Jim charms Margot's siblings and mother, frustrating Margot, who has a strained relationship with them. He and Jenni perform "Islands in the Stream" together, disturbing Margot with the song's sexual undertone.
Afterwards, Margot makes a drunken toast; when Jim attempts to take the microphone from her, she accidentally hits Jenni in the face with it. In the morning, Jim overhears Margot criticizing Jenni's appearance and her closeness with her dad to her family, who defend Jim.
In revenge, Jim intentionally draws out Jenni and Oliver's ceremony so that Neve and Dixon cannot marry at sunset, then enlists a boat to drive past the dock where their ceremony is taking place to splash the wedding party. The speed boat mistakenly believes Jim encouraged her to make a second pass. This time, the dock collapses, dropping most of the family into the water.
Jim and Margot meet up later in the evening, where they have a heartfelt conversation. Each of them open up about their life problems. Margot apologizes to Jim, only for him to guiltily admit to his revenge plans. A furious Margot enlists her siblings to ruin Jenni and Oliver's reception by destroying their wedding cake. While they are talking, they see someone who appears to be Oliver outside the hotel kissing a bridesmaid. Margot tells Jim, who is dubious.
Jim discovers from Oliver that he and Jenni are planning to move from Atlanta to Memphis, and had been hiding it from him. So, he tells Jenni he saw Oliver kissing a bridesmaid. The furious bride begins kissing other attendees at random, leading Oliver to do the same.
Amid the chaos, it is revealed that Margot had actually seen one of Oliver's groomsmen. Jenni angrily leaves Jim and the island behind, while Neve and Dixon complete their interrupted ceremony. At the reception, Margot fights with her mother over her emotional unavailability, exposing her sibling's secrets in the process, while her family criticizes her for being distant from them.
When Margot returns to her room, Jim is waiting with an alligator, which bites her before he throws it out of the window. Dixon treats the injury and Margot reconciles with her family and with Jim.
When Jim discovers through social media that Jenni and Oliver have annulled their marriage, he gets a ride with Margot back to Atlanta to convince her to go through with the marriage. He and Jenni have a heart-to-heart, agreeing not to lie to each other anymore. She and Oliver decide not to get remarried, but still plan to move to Memphis together as a couple.
Afterwards, Jenni tells Margot Jim is romantically interested in her. The two make plans to see each other again, quite do-able as he is the CEO of Delta Airlines, and share a kiss before Margot returns home.
The following Thanksgiving, Margot's whole family, along with Jim, Jenni and Oliver, visit her in Los Angeles and take a family photo together. Jim proposes to Margot, who suggests they elope to avoid another wedding fiasco.
Cast
edit- Will Ferrell as Jim, Jenni's father
- Reese Witherspoon as Margot, a wedding-planner and Neve's older sister
- Geraldine Viswanathan as Jenni, a bride and Jim's daughter
- Meredith Hagner as Neve, a bride and Margot's younger sister
- Stony Blyden as Oliver
- Leanne Morgan as Gwyneth
- Rory Scovel as Colton
- Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Heather
- Ramona Young as Kelly
- Jack McBrayer as Leslie
- Fortune Feimster as Captain Barry
- Celia Weston as Flora
- Bobby Moynihan as himself
- Wyatt Russell as Masked Dancer host
- Jimmy Tatro as Dixon
- Vinny Thomas as Davey
- Peyton Manning as himself
- Lauren Holt as Abigail
- Wesley Mann as Pastor Jerry
- Nick Jonas as Pastor Luther
Production
editNicholas Stoller wrote, directed, and produced the film, while Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon starred and serve as producers alongside Jessica Elbaum, Conor Welch, and Lauren Neustadter. Serving as executive producers are Ashley Strumwasser and Alex Brown. Production companies are Stoller Global Solutions, Gloria Sanchez Productions, and Hello Sunshine. The project landed at Amazon Studios in July 2022.[2][3]
Ferrell and Witherspoon were revealed to be attached to the project in June 2022.[4] Principal photography began in Atlanta in May 2023.[5][6]
Release
editYou're Cordially Invited was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on January 30, 2025.[7]
Reception
editOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of 95 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "While Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon work well together as catty combatants, tired set-pieces and a misjudged romantic subplot make this an invitation you can file under 'maybe.'"[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[9]
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film two and a half out of four stars and wrote, "Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon have both been around long enough to have become the movie star equivalent of comfort food. By this point in their respective careers, you know what you're getting, especially if the project is a comedy, and if you like it, it'll fill you up for a couple of hours. You're Cordially Invited is reheated comedy leftovers, for the most part, but there's enough warmth, sentimentality, and belly laughs to make for a raucous timewaster."[10]
References
edit- ^ "You're Cordially Invited (15)". British Board of Film Classification. January 25, 2025. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
- ^ Jackson, Angelique (July 6, 2022). "Amazon Studios Lands Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell Wedding Comedy Directed by Nick Stoller". Variety. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (July 6, 2022). "Will Ferrell-Reese Witherspoon Wedding Comedy From 'Bros' Director Nick Stoller Lands At Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 16, 2022). "Hot Package #2: Buyers Spark To Nick Stoller Wedding Comedy Package With Reese Witherspoon & Will Ferrell Attached". Hollywood Deadline. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ "Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, coming to Atlanta to shoot You're Cordially Invited". ajc.com. March 22, 2023. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ Heller, Karen (May 10, 2023). "Y'all are precious': Gen X Southern moms are what works in comedy now". Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
- ^ Zee, Michaela (May 14, 2024). "'You're Cordially Invited' Trailer: Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell Wage Wedding Warfare in Prime Video's R-Rated Comedy". Variety. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ "You're Cordially Invited". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
- ^ "You're Cordially Invited". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
- ^ Zoller Seitz, Matt (January 31, 2025). "You're Cordially Invited". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 31, 2025.