Josh Reviews The People We Hate at the Wedding

The People We Hate at the Wedding was directed by Claire Scanlon (who’s directed a lot of great TV comedies, including the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Interactive Special for Netflix) and written by Wendy Molyneux & Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin (who are apparently writing the script for the in-development third Deadpool movie), adapting the novel by Grant Ginder.  Kristen Bell and Ben Platt play Alice and Paul, who are invited, along with their mother Donna (Allison Janney) to the wedding of their British step-sister Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson).  Eloise is hopeful this wedding will bring her back together with her distant American family, for whom she has fond memories from her childhood.  But Alice and Paul both feel estranged from Eloise, and they attend the wedding with a far more negative mindset…

First off, let me start by saying it’s fun to see a movie comedy again.  They’re not really making many of these types of films these days!  The People We Hate at the Wedding follows a fairly familiar structure, in which people behave badly and comedic turmoil unfolds… and then they find a way to make up and reconnect by the end.  I suspect some viewers of this movie might roll their eyes and call that predictable.  But I quite enjoyed settling into these comfortably familiar beats.  There’s nothing altogether new in the film’s structure or characters (Kristen Bell is basically playing Arizona trash-bag Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place.  Every time she curses in this film, I kept hearing “forking!” in my head).  But despite that familiarity (or perhaps because of it?) I enjoyed watching this silly tale.

It helps that the leads are all such great performers.  Let’s start with Kristen Bell, who has unparalleled comedic chops (seen in projects from Forgetting Sarah Marshall to her recurring role as Eagleton snob Ingrid on Parks and Rec to her starring role in the afore-mentioned The Good Place).  She’s a hoot as drunken mess Alice.  (And when it inevitably arrives that she has a serious dramatic scene, when Alice confronts Eloise in a limo about why she’s so angry at her, Ms. Bell perfectly nails the moment.)  Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen, Pitch Perfect) is endearing and funny as Paul, who is just as selfish and self-absorbed as Alice.  Allison Janney was the comedic secret weapon on The West Wing (“woot canaw!!”) and she’s great here as Donna.  Ms. Janney lets us see Donna’s sadness and heartbreak and also her strength and her fierce love for her kids, despite how poorly they’ve been behaving.  Cynthia Addai-Robinson is basically the straight-person in this group of lunatics; so she doesn’t get to have as much fun as the others, but she’s strong as the dignified and sweet-hearted Eloise.

There are some fun supporting players in the film.  Karan Soni (Deadpool) is very funny as Paul’s boyfriend Dominic.  D’Arcy Carden only has one scene in the movie (what a waste!!), and it has pretty much nothing to do with the main story, but it’s a very funny moment with Kristen Bell’s character, and my heart sang to see this mini The Good Place reunion.  Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Party Down, and she’s been killing it recently in Fleishman is in Trouble) also pops up for one scene, albeit a far more critical one, and Ms. Caplan is terrific as always.  Isaach de Bankolé (Casino Royale, Black Panther) is strong as Donna’s ex-husband Henrique, a charismatic jerk.

Groundbreaking cinema this is not.  But I enjoyed sitting back to watch this story about a family of broken jerks learning that (spoiler alert!) they actually do love one another.

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