The People We Hate at the Wedding: Film Review
I didn’t know anything about The People We Hate at the Wedding except that it starred Allison Janney, Kristen Bell and Ben Platt and that’s all I needed to know. I’m glad I checked it out because I enjoyed it.
Janney’s Donna has three children split over two continents. Her eldest daughter Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) was born and raised in England with her dad and Donna’s ex-husband. After Donna returned home to the USA, she had two children – Alice (Bell) and Paul (Platt) – with her second husband Bill. The family has grown apart in the years since Bill’s death but they must put on a united front when they’re invited to Eloise’s wedding in England.
First of all, I want to note that the title is super misleading. The majority of the story takes place before the wedding and the people they hate are each other. This is a family comedy-drama and the wedding forces them to confront everything that’s been keeping them apart. I’m not sure what a more accurate title would be, but this is not it!
I liked the script and found the conflict between the characters really interesting. They are messy and have so much history between them and I enjoyed watching them air their grievances. The conflict is great for drama – a lot of home truths and revelations come out – but also comedy. It’s an amusing watch with a few laugh-out-loud moments. Not all the jokes land and it could have done with a few more laughs but it’s pretty decent on the comedy front, especially with the awkward threesome attempt scene.
The film is set in the days leading up to the wedding when the family come over to London. I loved seeing the American characters checking out places I recognised, mimicking British people and slang. The story is mostly about the hijinks they get up to during their trip – accompanied by a great soundtrack – and everything comes to a head in a spectacular way during the rehearsal dinner.
We have seen Bell play the messy character who makes bad choices before but she does it so well. The bitter, self-loathing energy she brings to the trip is a bold choice and puts her at odds with the rich and polished Eloise, who seems to have a perfect life. Janney doesn’t get quite as much to do as the children but I love her in everything. I haven’t liked Platt in a role since Pitch Perfect but he is so good here. It was nice to see Karan Soni breaking out of his pigeonhole and playing Paul’s bitchy boyfriend Dominic and Dustin Mulligan brought his sweet Schitt’s Creek vibe to Dennis, Alice’s love interest.
The People We Hate at the Wedding isn’t perfect but I enjoyed the characters and the conflict and had a great time watching it.
On Prime Video from Friday 18th November