Review: Table 19

An intermittently amusing wedding comedy that wastes the talents of its accomplished cast along with the potential of its premise, Table 19 stars Anna Kendrick as Eloise, meant to be the maid of honour at her best friend's wedding until she was dumped by her best friend's brother Teddy (Wyatt Russell).

Obliged to attend, she finds herself relegated to the dreaded table 19, situated so far in the periphery that it may as well not exist at all. Its occupants are the crème de la crème of unwanted guests. Aside from Eloise, there's Walter (Stephen Merchant), a gangly wallflower tight-lipped about being in prison for stealing $125,000 from the bride's father; young horndog Renzo (The Grand Budapest Hotel's Tony Revolori), who's trying to get his game on whilst fielding calls from his mother; the bride's former nanny Jo (June Squibb), who turns out to be a pot-smoking busybody; and Bina and Jerry Kepp (Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson), a married couple for whom bickering is the default mode of communication.

Why any of them would be invited much less attend is a great mystery to anyone possessing a mere drop of logic, but they have been brought together by director Jeffrey Blitz (whose screenplay was based on a story he wrote with Jay and Mark Duplass), who ostensibly wanted to show how this band of misfits could come together to be some sort of family. That's all well and good except that the characters are so thinly written, the anaemic story stretched beyond breaking point, and the tonal transition from first to second act so awkwardly handled that it's difficult to maintain any interest in what unfolds. This is particularly true in the latter half when revelations start being flung left, right and center; none of the secrets have any impact since the viewers don't really have a deep sense of who these characters are or why one should be so emotionally invested in what happens to them.

The cast are professional enough to do their best to make the soggy material work. Kendrick remains a zingy and immensely likable performer, but she needs to start holding out for more interesting and substantial parts, not appearing in things that dilute her value.

Table 19

Directed by: Jeffrey Blitz

Written by: Jeffrey Blitz

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Margo Martindale, Becky Ann Baker, Wyatt Russell, Tony Revolori