Why must movie trailers be so misleading? There have been many a movie where the finished product seems completely different from what the trailer hyped it to be. Like a comedy that is not that funny because the trailer gave away the only two humorous parts of the entire film.
After viewing the trailer of Table 19, I popped in the DVD expecting a romantic comedy. A girl meets a guy while at the wedding of her ex-boyfriend’s sister. She’s seated at the worst table but it’s filled with quirky characters who have laugh out loud hijinks. That’s not the movie I got.
Anna Kendrick’s Eloise has mixed feelings about attending the wedding of Francie, one of her oldest friends who is also the sister of her ex-boyfriend. She was originally the maid of honor, but stepped aside after the breakup, which is how she ended up at Table 19. Also seated at Table 19 are the Kepps, played by Craig Robinson and Lisa Kudrow, distant business associates of the groom’s father. Jo Flanagan (the bride’s first nanny), Walter Thimble (cousin of the bride), and Renzo Eckberg (son of a friend) round out the table.
With the cast involved, I was anticipating laughs. There are some funny parts, but there is more drama than I was expecting. Eloise and Teddy (played by Wyatt Russell, son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell) broke up via text, but they had been together for two years and there were serious reasons behind the split. The Kepps have an unhappy marriage. Walter is estranged from the family, Renzo just wants to meet a girl, and Jo is looking back on the choices she made in her life.
While not what I was expecting, Table 19 is not necessarily a bad movie. It's just disappointing not to see what I was expecting. The most enjoyable part of the movie is the comradery that forms between the tablemates and the things they learned from each other. It makes you wonder who you’ll be seated next to at your next wedding.