Talented cast, but dreary tale about ‘Wedding’
Who exactly are “The People We Hate at the Wedding”? Truly, all of them.
It could be considered an achievement that a full-length feature movie with a talented ensemble cast, led by Kristen Bell and Allison Janney, couldn’t create a single character that you would want to spend more than five minutes with, but there it is. Not even picturesque London can save this witless comedy.
The bride at the wedding in question is Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the British-raised daughter of Donna (Janney) and Henrique (Isaach De Bankolé), Donna’s first husband. She invites mom, of course, as well as her estranged American half-siblings, Alice (Bell) and Paul (Ben Platt).
Why they are estranged is something of a mystery — something that happened the previous summer. Predictably, when it is finally revealed what happened, it turns out to be a lame misunderstanding that in real life would have been worked out after five minutes of discussion.
Alice is a real piece of work. She has a snide remark for everyone and works at a tech firm, where she is actively carrying on an affair with her boss (Jorma Taccone), a married man with a small child. She
meets Dennis (Dustin Milligan), a handsome and relatively normal (for this movie at least) fellow on the plane to London, and immediately insults him.
Why Dennis agrees to pal around with her in London is anyone’s guess — is he into self-punishment?
Paul is a malcontent whose straying partner, Dominic (Karan Soni), hopes to get him together
with his British friend (Julian Ovenden) for a threesome. Meanwhile, Donna and Henrique rekindle their romance.
“The People We Hate at the Wedding” is based on a popular book by Grant Ginder, but the movie, directed by veteran television director Claire Scanlon, unfolds like a sitcom — outlandish, over-the-top situations, drunken (or in Donna’s case, ediblefueled)
outbursts and lots of manufactured awkwardness.
The film stoops to its lowest point with a tasteless joke about Lady Diana’s ghost. Not even a bachelorette party on the Thames can keep this afloat.
“The film stoops to its lowest point with a tasteless joke about Lady Diana’s ghost. Not even a bachelorette party on the Thames can keep this afloat.”