Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon are in a movie together? “Turn it on,” says every millennial in the room. Or at least that’s what they would have done if they had heard about You’re Cordially Invited, an Amazon Prime original comedy released on January 30, 2025. From director Nicholas Stoller, who, as anyone born between the early 1980s and late 1990s should know, is one of our premiere millennial directors, with several movies in the same vein as You’re Cordially Invited. Forgetting Sarah Marshall anyone? Neighbors anyone? Storks anyone? Maybe not that last one.

The film follows widowed father Jim (Ferrell), whose daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) is marrying her boyfriend, Oliver (Stony Blyden), on Palmetto Island in Georgia. Parallelly, single LA TV producer Margot (Witherspoon) books Palmetto Island for her sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) and her fiancé Dixon’s (Jimmy Tatro) wedding. Naturally, the resort makes a mistake, and we have a weekend with two weddings trying to operate simultaneously, with Jim and Margot competing to make sure their family is happy. Not only is You’re Cordially Invited an underrated comedy, it’s also a core millennial movie.

Will Ferrell And Reese Witherspoon Are Millennial Royalty

Some Of The Best Movies Of The 2000s Star These Two

Nicholas Stoller alone is enough to make You’re Cordially Invited a millennial movie, but it’s Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell who push it over the top into pure millennial territory. These actors, despite not being millennials themselves, have been key parts of many, my own included, millennial movie diets. Reese Witherspoon’s career from the 1990s to the 2000s is unimpeachable. Witherspoon’s roles include staples such as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Tracy Flick in Election, June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, and much more.

She was one of the first actors I recognized as being “good”, as in, if I told my parents about a movie, I knew her name would carry weight when encouraging them to check it out. As for Will Ferrell, as a guy growing up in the 2000s, I likely absorbed way, way too much Ferrell-style humor. I used quips from Ron Burgundy in Anchorman so much that I’m sure people started to wonder if I just had the film on a loop back at home (I did).

From Old School to Elf to Blades of Glory to The Other Guys and everything in between, Ferrell has dominated the millennial comedy era. Sure, Apatow, The Hangover films, and Sandler have made notable inroads into comedy during this period, but Ferrell holds the crown. Even now, in the 2020s, his presence is a millennial call to action. Put him next to Reese Witherspoon? It’s a match made in flannel heaven.

You’re Cordially Invited Is More Worthwhile Than Critics Gave It Credit For

It’s A Light On Its Feet, Heartfelt Classic Comedy

Now for the elephant in the room, is You’re Cordially Invited actually any good? With a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, you might be bracing yourself for more straight-to-streaming slop that has sadly become the norm in the last ten years. I’m here to tell you it’s much better than that. While it’s no Anchorman, Sweet Home Alabama, or even Semi-Pro, it’s still quite good and exists on a plane higher than most recent comedies to come out. There is something just so easy about You’re Cordially Invited.

It does not have anything in the way of a grand statement about life or serve as an allegory about some part of culture or society. It’s a joke machine with a cute, surprisingly moving story about trust and love. It’s an appropriately simple style of comedy that used to be more in vogue. Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon are also doing some of their best work in years. Ferrell avoids going too broad, which has upended some of his recent comedy movies like Spirited and Holmes & Watson when it’s not called for.

It’s a performance more in line with Everything Must Go or The Campaign, but he still has his moments of outsized, Ferrell-style humor. Witherspoon is totally game for any and all comedy sequences, and she brings a gravity and hilarious straight-woman performance that works perfectly against Ferrell’s character. She has plenty of her own comic moments, too, and owns them as well as she ever does.

You’re Cordially Invited Will Leave A Greater Legacy Than Other Recent Comedies

Most Comedies Post-2015 Have Struggled To Leave An Impact

I think You’re Cordially Invited is going to hold up much better than similar comedy movies of the recent era. Comedy has been in a rough spot since the mid-2000s. Movies seem to be divided into giant blockbuster fare and tiny independent movies that can be made on the cheap. The best comedies operate in that middleground, however, because they don’t often make the huge amount of returns necessary to justify an MCU-sized movie, but the star-power often required to make comedies work requires a budget larger than independent films can afford.

So we’re stuck with cheaply and quickly made comedies that hit streaming or flail at the box office. Television still has some good comedies, but the movie landscape for the genre has been lacking. Hubie Halloween, Palm Springs, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and Spirited were exciting movies when they were first announced, and some even turned out excellent, but they left little cultural footprint afterward. You’re Cordially Invited has a chance to age well, thanks to its relatable storyline and generational talents at the center.

Will Ferrell said about You’re Cordially Invited (via TheWrap),

“There’s a lot of laughs [in the film]. I’m not just saying that. A lot of laughs.”

Reese Witherspoon said about the film (via HarpersBazaar),

“I think of opportunities to make movies and television shows that are joyful, optimistic, funny—just funny. I think about what I want to see on a Friday night, and while I can appreciate a true-crime show or a podcast, I really need some levity. I think the world is looking for a little brightness.”

Both Ferrell and Witherspoon point out the comedy and the happiness of the film, and it’s that adherence to strict, charming comedy that will ensure it lasts long.

The Supporting Cast Of You’re Cordially Invited Is Filled With The Next Generation Of Comedy Stars

Keyla Monterroso Mejia Is A Standout Up-And-Coming Talent

You’re Cordially Invited is not just a two-person show either. The cast of You’re Cordially Invited includes some exceptional up-and-coming comedy stars. Geraldine Viswanathan has recently starred in comedy movies like Drive-Away Dolls and The Beanie Bubble. Stony Blyden is a regular in comedy TV, with appearances in How I Met Your Mother, Big SH๏τs, and American Born Chinese​​​​​.

Keyla Monterroso Mejia appears in the cast as Heather, and Mejia is having a big moment in comedy, with hilarious appearances in Abbott Elementary and Curb Your Enthusiasm​​​. While this generation of millennial actors in You’re Cordially Invited will have to wait and see if they have careers of the magnitude of Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, they can always be happy they had a role in this exceptional comedy.