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The premise of a bunch of one-note randoms meeting on the same wedding table and then bonding as a gang of proud outcasts 45 minutes later isn’t arresting cinema, even if Anna Kendrick is among them.
When Eloise McGarry (Kendrick) is replaced as maid of honour after being unceremoniously dumped by the best man via text, she lands a place card at the randoms table at the back of the room. So far away from the dance floor but in close acquaintance with the bathroom. Table 19 is for the ‘filler’ guests who had to be invited but no one actually expected them to attend. From one relative who went to jail for stealing hundreds of thousands from the bride’s father to a forgotten childhood nanny, each colourful character has their own backstory of adversity. “I had never thought about table placement before this movie,” says Kendrick. “Now I feel like I’m always going to figure out where I stand with the bride and groom based on that!”
While the film is thrusted forward by the tension between Eloise and ex-boyfriend Teddy (played by Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn’s rugged son Wyatt) in a very real relationship breakdown and showdown, the act of the Table 19 misfits banding together as a hard-done-by force is, frankly, unbelievable. Taking place on one single day – the wedding day – it’s hard to become invested in any of the characters, even Lisa Kudrow who plays a diner owner and the wife of Craig Robinson’s character, both representing the over-done miseries of marriage. And when the sweet old nanny rips off her wig and digs out a bag of marijuana from her handbag, it’s all over. Not even Kendrick’s deft comedic timing can save it and forces you to wonder why she signed on to the film.
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As aforementioned, the relationship between Teddy and Eloise will go somewhere unexpected and is an authentic representation of a couple who continually miscommunicate but are still so drawn to one another. You are thrown off the scent though by the random introduction of handsome Australian actor Thomas Cocquerel who plays Huck, a guy who kisses Eloise but then just when you think he might take her attention off Teddy and be the reason she came to the wedding, he is written off and is actually the groom in another wedding next door and is never seen again. The rest of the script is sadly, a yawn, and by film’s end you will feel like you’ve just attended a really bad wedding.
Table 19 is in Australian cinemas April 20.
