The People We Hate at the Wedding

Allison Janney has been nominated for and won so many awards over the past 30 years that it takes a separate, linked Wikipedia entry just to list them all. For her mere presence in this movie I must give this movie an extra star on its rating. And Kristen Bell, of Veronica Mars and Frozen fame (and all the ensemble & supporting roles in both TV & movies that she's had in between), isn't exactly chopped liver, y'know. So then why isn't this made-for-streaming movie better than it is? Honestly, I'm not sure. But if you're a big fan of these women (as I am), or of the young Tony-winning star of "Dear Evan Hansen," it's still worth the 99-minute investment to watch.

I was excited for this movie because it actually has a lot of good actors. Ben Platt was great in the Pitch Perfect movies and Dear Evan Hansen. And Kristen Bell is pretty much great in everything I have seen her in. However, these two actors couldn't save this train wreck. Simply put, The People We Hate at the Wedding is a mess. The premise is interesting enough a dysfunctional family comes together for a wedding. But the pacing is all over the place. The jokes were really dragged out and often didn't hit the mark. They are also all kinds of terrible people with first-world problems, which just aren't that interesting. There wasn't a single character I related to or even liked. The pros are that it is on streaming, so you don't have to pay for it or see it in theaters. But I wouldn't recommend it and probably won't watch it again.

This had the potential to be a funny film, instead I found myself kind of disgusted by some of the characters actions and dialogue. Very little was believable and some characters were really quite horrible, self absorbed, whiners. I know films are meant to exaggerate or be farcical sometimes but the situations these characters were in were so over the top it really made no sense. I wanted to root for at least one character but really didn't, none were that interesting and few had any redeeming qualities. Many reviewers commented on the location, I have to agree. London is a beautiful city and the best thing about the film is that it was mostly shot there.

100-minute stinker of a movie with hugely unlikable characters.

Annoying extended family of losers reunite in London for a pretentious wedding. That's about it.

Kristen Bell is way too old for playing the sap having an affair with her jerky boss. Then there's Ben Platt playing a gay dope who breaks up with this boyfriend at the wedding of the bi-racial sister.

Then there's Allison Janney as the ditz mother who seems to be having an affair with one of her ex-husbands. My guess is they're supposed to be screwball comedy tropes but they come off as annoying jerks.

One of the stupidest scenes has the bride and her screeching pals going for a ride in a hot tub on the Thames. Gee, I wonder if they'll fall into the river.

Really bad.

This movie is one incoherent scene full of people who don't even remotely act like real people after another. Ben Platt and Kristen Bell are absolutely insufferable and made me actively angry. There's almost no explanation for how awful these characters are or why they hate their sister for no reason. This isn't an Always Sunny in Philadelphia situation where it's entertaining watching awful people do awful things, it's more so I want to rip my eyeballs out and extract the memory of this wretched pain from my brain. Also, this has some of the most egregiously disgusting product placement I've ever seen. It's like watching that fake Korean Subway tv show from John Oliver.

This was a truly horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Please avoid this like the plague.