Star Rating:

Table 19

Director: Jeffrey Blitz

Actors: Amanda Crew

Release Date: Friday 7th April 2017

Genre(s): Drama, Factual

Running time: 87 minutes

Despite being relieved of her Maid of Honour duties after being unceremoniously dumped by the Best Man, Eloise (Anna Kendrick) decides to attend the wedding of her oldest friend anyways. However when she gets there she finds she's been seated at the dreaded Table 19, the supposed place for unwanted guests who should have known to tick "not attending" on the invite. As if that wasn't bad enough, ex Teddy (Wyatt Russell) is being quite the jerk. Though there is a charming and handsome stranger with an accent knocking around so maybe all is not lost.

Attending a wedding when you're single can be tough enough. But when you find out you've been seated at the "rejects" table? Absolute nightmare. Such is the situation for recently dumped Eloise (Kendrick) when she attends the wedding of her oldest friend. What's worse is she has to deal with her jerk of an ex-boyfriend (Wyatt Russell) who seems to be getting quite cozy with her replacement as Maid of Honour. With nobody but the aforementioned "rejects" to offer comfort, Eloise makes the most of it. And guess what? It turns out they're pretty great people after all.

There's Jo (June Squibb) the bride's first nanny. Diner owners Bina and Jerry Kepp (Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson) bring their bickering marriage along with them. The bride's mysterious cousin Walter (Stephen Merchant) and lonely teenagerRezno (The Grand Budapest Hotel'sTony Revolori) round out the table.It's a great supporting cast but despite the obvious comedic talent involved, you can't help but feel they've all been better elsewhere, particularly Kudrow. Merchant is the standout but in fairness he does get all the best lines.

The idea of having to face your ex at a wedding and being sat with the supposed 'undesirables' is an interesting one and it's easy to see why writers Mark and Jay Duplass decided to explore it for the movie. However it becomes pretty clear early on that it can't sustain a 90 minute film. If anything it would have been better suited as a single episode of a sitcom. There's some energy early on but it doesn't take long for things to get a little dull and worse still, repetitive.

Kendrick is as likeable as always in the lead role and has great chemistry with her romantic interests. However the majority of what we learn about her character is told for us rather than shown to us. We're told that she is someone that takes too far, but never see any of this.

The biggest thing Table 19 has going against it though is the lack of plausibility at the core of the premise. It really is hard to believe that the mostly likeable Eloise would be alienated by the wedding party and other guests to the extent that she has been purely because she "never fitted in" when she and Teddy were together.