You’re Cordially Invited (Prime, Nicholas Stoller, 2025) & Detectorists (BBC series, Mackenzie Crook, 2014 - 2022)

You’re Cordially Invited is a wedding comedy that relies heavily on the supposed chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.

But wait, it’s not their characters wedding that we are initially invited to. Witherspoon plays Margot, a producer of reality tv, who decides to produce the wedding of her younger sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) at the Palmetto Inn, on a small island in Georgia.

The inn can only host one wedding per weekend, so it’s a shame that on this particular June 1 the place has been double booked, cause widower Jim (Ferrell) is there too with his daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) and her wedding crew.

Margot seems to have the upper hand, since hotel manager Leslie (Jack McBrayer) has her actual credit card info, but after some early skirmishes she relents when she finds out that Jim married his late wife on this same island.

They work out a deal, sharing the place and promising to co-exist peacefully through the weekend, like grown-ups are supposed to.

So after the first half hour the movie ends and everyone goes on to live happily ever after. Fade out.

Okay, so it doesn’t happen quite like that. I won’t really spoil what does, but you could say the movie quickly becomes a mix of Bride Wars and War of the Roses, with both parties trying to sabotage each other’s weddings.

There are a lot of jokes, some which land better than others, and a lot of supporting characters, to the point that that the movie feels more than a little over crowded.

Writer and director Nicholas Stoller keeps the movie going at a fair clip, but this is not like his earlier Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where you actually start to care deeply for the characters.

Jim and Margot obviously do care about their respective daughter and sister, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement in those particular relationships. Jim should be less clingy with Jenni, while Margot could work on improving the strained relationship with her mother.

Still, I’m not really sure how we are supposed to feel about Margot and Jim, and their own love-to-hate and hate-to-love you relationship, since they have plenty of comedic but no romantic chemistry. Until, towards the end, we are told by the script how to feel about them.

I didn’t believe it for a second, but maybe that’s just me.

I give it two stars.

DETECTORISTS (Mackenzie Crook, 2014 - 2022)

Detectorists is a charming British comedy, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, about two metal detectorists in search of fortune and, most of all, purpose in life.

This buddy comedy series, which co-starred Crook with acclaimed character actor Toby Jones as the leading man, ran for three seasons, starting in 2014 and culminating in a final Christmas special in 2022.

The BBC-series has won both awards and a loyal following, but it’s still being discovered by newcomers, like me.

Why? Not only because it’s really, really good, it also has the kind of universal appeal that still makes it feel fresh ten years after the first episode aired.

It tells the story of Lance (Jones) and Andy (Crook), who are best friends, not just because they like each other, but they also share the same hobby.

When they are not working their minimum wages jobs they spend the time with their metal detectors in the open fields of Essex, trying to unearthe the treasures of the past.

One of the strong suits of the series, is that Crook - who once became famous as Gareth in The Office - takes this hobby completely serious.

Yes, he derives humor from it, loads of it, actually, but he values these men and their passion, and never looks down on them.

After his years as an actor in The Office, which could be very cynical, Crook wanted to go in the opposite direction and wrote the kind of ‘gentle comedy’ that someone like Mike Schurr (The Good Place) also specializes in.

Detectorists is about two men who are trying to find their way in the world, surrounded by the beautiful British countryside - the series takes place in Essex but was shot in Suffolk - and the many shots of nature give the show an almost spiritual edge.

Along the way a whole crew of supporting characters are introduced: there is Becky (Rachel Stirling), who plays Andy’s girlfriend.

Becky sometimes bemoans the fact that he spends more time with Lance than with her, while in Season 2 the legendary Diana Rigg was added as Becky’s mother.

There are also the various members of the local detectorists club: chairman Terry (George Horan) and his wife Sheila (Sophie Thompson), the brash Russell (Pearce Quigly), the lesbian couple of Louise (Laura Checkly) and Varde (Orion Ben), and student Sophie (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), who all add some personal flavor to the mix.

Even the rival detectorists, played by Simon Farnaby and Paul Casar, are more droll than evil.

But rivalry (and ambition) there is, cause what they all have in common is the desire to find a coin or piece of jewelry that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Even if that might take away their true purpose in life.

In Detectorists the ‘dig’ is the destination, and this series is, indeed, a rare treasure.

I give it four stars!

Note: Detectorists is on some streaming platforms, but can also be found on YouTube.