Ed's Review Dot Com

3311 Productions, 21 Laps Entertainment, Story Ink,

Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Tony Revolori, Wyatt Russell, Maria Thayer, Thomas Cocquerel

Four friends are planning a wedding. Eloise (Anna Kendrick) is set to be Maid of Honor for her Boyfriend’s brother who is the Groom, and her good friend who is the Bride. But just weeks before the wedding, her boyfriend breaks up with her via text. Heartbroken, she is staring at the invitation and trying to decide whether to go or not. Finally she decides to show up, but she finds she’s been relegated to “Table 19”, the worst table in the house kept for those who don’t matter. When the wedding day arrives, Eloise gets a chance to meet the other “losers” who were sent to Table 19. Most of them don’t realize their lack of status, but as time passes, they find each reveal their story and each one is quite interesting. Meanwhile, things get rather sticky for Eloise as her ex is there along with her former friends, but no one is interested in her. As the chips fall where they may, this group of six set forth to make as much mayhem as possible.

Anna Kendrick, as usual, does a really good job in this film. Some of the other guest at Table 19 are also very good. Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson, Margo Martindale, and more, bring a lot of back stories as to why they’re at the loser table as well. Plus there’s a little romance or two in the air that helps to move the movie along. It’s a little bit funny, there’s some clever comedy here, but it’s not the funniest movie I’ve seen. It could have been better, but at least it was interesting enough to keep me focused on the whole movie. It’s not a hysterical laugh fest, but it is kind of cute and is worth watching. I enjoyed it, so if you’re looking for a little romantic comedy, this reminded me of some classic sit-coms on TV and so it’s harmless fun.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

CBS Films, Groundswell Productions, Imagine Entertainment,

Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, June Squibb, Jake Lacy, Amanda Seyfried, Diane Keaton, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Ed Helms, John Goodman

Love the Coopers (Shouldn’t this be Love, The Coopers?) is a Christmas Holiday film where, much like the Griswolds, the Cooper family brings four generations together for the holidays. Like all families, they have their problems and issues, but everyone is trying to make the holidays special. But a bunch of surprise visitors and unexpected events turns it all into turmoil until the family is able to right the ship and figure out how to get the ship back on keel to have a successful holiday.

Ok, I must admit (as if you didn’t know it) that I’m a sucker for Christmas films, even in February, but even so, I can see some issues with this movie. Still, the movie does have some flaws, but does that mean I did not like it? Hardly, as I really enjoyed watching it. One of the problems is too many family members to keep track of, and the characters don’t have enough time to develop more than a superficial way. Still since the cast is filled with fantastic actors all over the place, one of the high points too is to get to see them work things out. Diane Keaton and John Goodman are really good together, and I must say are two of the best around. Then aside from these two, star after star appears. The comedy is hit and miss. Some of it is really funny, and some of it is really touching, and that’s what you’re looking for in a Christmas film like this. It certainly would be more fun though to see it in November, and I’m not sure why it was released so early in the new year, except maybe with that title, it doesn’t look like a holiday film. I felt the actors did pretty good, and aside from their being a LOT going on which is hard to keep up with, the lack of time to develop each of the characters as much I would have liked, and the fact that this family is so inappropriate dropping all the family secrets to anyone who will listen, and finally, the unneeded narrator talking over everything, it did work. I really enjoyed it, and I liked it a lot. I know I make is sound terrible, and many critics didn’t like it, but since I did really enjoy it, I have to recommend it, and I do. It was quality work by top notch performers, and cleaning up the script a little would have made an awesome film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog