Table 19 movie review & film summary (2017)

There's Eloise (Anna Kendrick), the onetime maid of honor who was ejected from her honored place in the wedding party after the best man, her boyfriend Teddy (Wyatt Russell)—also the bride's brother—broke up with her, via text message, no less. Then there's Jerry and Bina Kepp (Craig Robinson and Lisa Kudrow), a sour, squabbling couple who are part of the Ohio diner scene that the groom's family is immersed in. Table 19 also includes the bride's former nanny, Jo Flanagan (June Squibb), who's genial and nosy and tells charming stories about the bride and her brother; Renzo Eckberg (Tony Revolori), a teenager who came to the reception only after being assured by his mother that he was being seated at the "singles table," and who seems to have no social skills; and Walter Thimple (Stephen Merchant), one of the strangest characters I've seen in awhile—a sweet, nervous, exceedingly furtive man who lies about everything.

You should know that "Table 19" starts out as an uncomfortable experience. I don't just mean that its main characters are placed in an uncomfortable situation, not really knowing why they're at this table or even why they agreed to attend the reception. I mean the film itself puts you on edge in ways that register subconsciously. You don't know anyone in the wedding party beyond the minimal facts you've been given, and the movie doesn't find ways to cheat and fill in the story. Because the movie's director and co-writer Jeffrey Blitz, who collaborated on the story with Jay and Mark Duplass, tend to keep the camera with the people at the table, observing everyone else from their perspective, you feel as isolated as they do. The whole thing is intentionally very awkward. And there's an added layer of discomfort that comes from wondering if you've signed on to watch a feature length film that stays at one table at a wedding reception for 90 minutes.

After a certain point, though—I'd rather not say exactly how—"Table 19" extricates its characters from their prison, and from there, the film becomes something I did not expect: a movie about characters who've been thrown together in an unfamiliar context, and find that the new experience encourages them to deal with emotional issues they've been refusing to address for a long time.

Everybody at the table has a secret, and in due time the secrets are revealed, often through interactions with table-mates that they've just met. The best part of the film is the middle, where the characters sort of wander off on their own and momentarily forget about the reception they came here to attend. (There's a throwaway reference to "The Wizard of Oz" in here; you'll know it when you see it.)

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