There’s always room for a good romantic comedy to play out in the aftermath of a wedding. New First video The release of The People We Hate At The Wedding, directed by Claire Scanlon, stays strictly outside of this play, stumbling through genre tropes to give us a soulless journey with a dysfunctional family, which only gets more animated. and boring with every passing second of its 100 minute runtime. Adapted by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin from Grant Ginder’s novel of the same name, it’s yet another addition to the list of clueless romantic comedies about a wedding. To top it off, it’s strictly not funny. Read also : Kristen Bell and Ben Platt recall the most embarrassing memories of social gatherings
People include Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who is preparing for her lush wedding in England and wants her estranged family members to travel from America. This dysfunctional family includes the Alice siblings (Kristen Bell) and Paul (Ben Platt), as well as their mother Donna (Alison Janney). Each of them has their own set of problems and narcissistic tendencies that go hand in hand. Alice is an aspiring architect who is now sleeping with her married boss. She works as his assistant, as she calls it. Of course, Alice meets a handsome stranger on the flight named Dennis (Dustin Milligan of Schitt’s Creek) and is left out by her own train wreck of a relationship with her boss. Paul, who works as some sort of therapist (don’t even try to ask how), is in a relationship with Dominic (Karan Soni), who accompanies him to explore some of his own untapped desires. As for Donna, she’s literally the worst written character in the movie, meeting her ex-first husband Henrique (Isaach de Bankolé), Eloise’s father.
The People We Hate At The Wedding does not seek to project anything other than a comedy of well-being. Yet none of the self-sabotage humor works. Why would Eloise invite her extended family over and keep them around, when she’s good at spoiling every little occasion she attends? Alice gets drunk early and reluctantly makes her way through the most unplanned bachelorette party. She’s always ready to vomit whenever there’s a silence of deadpan humor. Kristen Bell can’t save Alice with her trademark quirk; even his physical comedy feels misplaced in the overrated scenes. There’s a whole subplot about Paul’s homosexuality, which involves a boring threesome that offers anything but laughs. Ben Platt tries too hard and overdoes the jokes and then the tears, while Allison Janney is sidelined with a character who has no sense of credibility or direction. Cynthia Addai-Robinson does her best with Eloise and shows rare depth in one of the later scenes, but it’s a bit too late to register amidst all the unnecessary chaos.
The only saving grace of them all is Dustin Milligan as the Paddington-loving Dennis, who adds an uncommon grace to what could have been a caricature of a character. Her scenes with Kristen Bell are the only moments Claire Scanlon’s film feels bearable.
The people we hate in marriage want to confront the little misunderstandings that build up in our closest relationships when we’re not at our best. At the end of the day, they are family. The latest set of revelations tend to bring the family together for a showdown, which would have worked if not for the misguided execution. Unfortunately, in The People We Hate At The Wedding, it’s the people who end up getting all that hate instead.
