Actors Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell spar in wedding comedy You’re Cordially Invited
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Reese Witherspoon (left) and Will Ferrell in You're Cordially Invited.
PHOTO: PRIME VIDEO
LONDON – Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon says teaming up with Will Ferrell for the wedding comedy You’re Cordially Invited was a long time coming.
The American actors, who in 2001 worked together on an episode of American sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, make their first joint feature film appearance in the movie, which they also produced.
“Every day I was on set, I was like, ‘Will, this is on my bucket list’,” Witherspoon said at the film’s premiere at the London Palladium theatre on Jan 23.
Premiering on Prime Video on Jan 30, You’re Cordially Invited sees two wedding parties arriving at a small island hotel to discover their nuptials have accidentally been booked for the same day.
Widower Jim (Ferrell), whose daughter is getting married, and Margot (Witherspoon), a Los Angeles-based reality TV executive in charge of her sister’s wedding, agree to share the venue but quickly come to regret their decision. Chaos and comedy ensue as the two clash and seek to outdo each other.
Ferrell, 57, a father of three sons aged 15 to 21, and Witherspoon, 48, who also has three children, aged 13 to 26, said the film’s family dynamics resonated with them.
“Will’s daughter is getting married and he’s worried he’s going to have nothing for himself because she’s really his lifeline. And I’m worried my sister is going to leave my life,” said Witherspoon.
“Underneath all of the sparring and fighting, there’s this deep fear and I think that’s how we connect in the end.”
American actress Reese Witherspoon at the Wall Street Journal Magazine’s Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on Oct 29, 2024.
PHOTO: AFP
The film is written and directed by British-American film-maker Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 2008; Neighbors, 2014).
The 48-year-old said: “I’m a father of three daughters, so I certainly poured a lot of my experiences into (Ferrell’s) character. And then Reese’s sister is getting married and she has a kind of complex relationship with their family, and we all have complex relationships with our families. So, it was a bit autobiographical.” REUTERS
You’re Cordially Invited premieres on Prime Video on Jan 30.
