The People We Hate at the Wedding

A more entertaining title than film, The People We Hate at the Wedding, while averting complete disaster, is a comedic misfire that squanders its promising setup and the impressive list of on-screen talent at its disposal. It’s a cliché that critics often seek refuge in when describing a romantic comedy that doesn’t reach the bar to suggest that it is hardly romantic or comedic enough to fit the bill. The frayed quips and predictable beats laced throughout this feature’s script fail to land with any aplomb, any vivacity imbued solely by the refined timing of seasoned comedic performers Allison Janney, Kristen Bell and Ben Platt. 

The trio make up the American contingent of the transatlantic family whose dysfunction is the intended source of the film’s screwball whimsy. Donna (Janney) is the family’s matriarch, whose curious romantic history has led to the divide: having mothered a daughter with Isaach de Bankolé’s Henrique (a promiscuous lady’s man living in London), she subsequently moved across the pond to marry the plain and harmless Bill (Andy Daly), with whom she raised Alice and Paul (Bell and Platt respectively). When it’s time for the dainty princess daughter, Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), to get married, the scruffy (by comparison) trio travel to an American’s fantasy of London, adorned with five-star hotels and prim and proper ladies and gentlemen. 

Beyond the culture clash premise, there is not much to go off. Janney hardly ever shifts beyond first gear, delivering the haphazardness that she can do in her sleep, while Platt rolls through the film with a monotone sardonicism whose register is sometimes grating, occasionally worthy of a chuckle, yet for the most part entirely inoffensive and ineffective. Banks, whose character’s predicament seeks to somewhat deepen the production’s emotional payoff, delivers by far the strongest performance, and is let down by a lacklustre story and script. 

In contrast to this year’s Bros, The People We Hate at the Wedding is a romcom that is happy to daintily saunter along the lines of tried-and-tested formula. Unlike this year’s Ticket to Paradise, however, it falls squarely on its face.

Matthew McMillan

The People We Hate at the Wedding is released on Amazon Prime Video on 18^th November 2022.

Watch the trailer for The People We Hate at the Wedding here: