TABLE 19


US, 2017, 87 minutes, Colour.

Anna Kendrick, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson, Tony Revolori, Margo Martindale, Stephen Merchant, June Squibb, Wyatt Russell.
Directed by Jeffrey Blitz.

There won’t be any great indent in your life, any emptiness, if you don’t manage to see Table 19. On the other hand, if you do happen to see it, it is a reasonable enough 90 minutes looking at human nature and many of its troubles.

The action of the film takes place mainly over one day, a wedding. We are introduced to Eloise (Anna Kendrick) debating over whether she will accept the invitation to the wedding: yes, no, attempting to burn the invitation, changing her mind and going. We assume that there is some kind of romantic barrier hindering her going to the wedding.

In fact, she has broken off her relationship with the Best Man, Teddy (Wyatt Russell) who was taken up with an old and now new girlfriend. Eloise has helped with the table placements but, after the breakup, she has withdrawn as maid of honour and is now at the outpost table, 19.

We are shown the other guests at this table receiving their invitations, debating whether to go or not. The most eager is the very elderly former nanny, June Squibb (so good in the film, Nebraska), an awkward young man preoccupied with sexual matters (Tony Revolori, so good in The Grand Budapest Hotel), the owners of a diner whose rather long marriage has become rather brittle (Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson) and, finally, a very awkward and gawky guest, the very tall Stephen Merchant (The Office).

There are many awkward moments at the table, very many awkward moments. Eloise absents herself at times, arguing with Teddy, dancing with a good-looking seeming-guest (Australian Tom Cocquerell, accent and all) who, in fact, it is rather two-timing. Things come to a head when Eloise is upset, the nanny quickly discerning that she is pregnant, and there is an upset to the wedding cake with them all repairing to the nanny’s room, some pot, some mutual help. They then go for a walk, an opportunity for everybody to have a good talk and attempt to sort things out.

Problems, problems. On the whole, we probably don’t mind being in the company of these characters with their eccentricities and hope that things will turn out for them.

1. A wedding story, wedding guests? Cross-section, ordinary, troubled? Resolutions?

2. One day of action, announcement of the wedding, invitations, preparation, guests, the dinner, the table, the orchestra, songs, dancing, the mishaps? The woods and the water? The ferry? The hotel? The range of songs and the score?

3. Eloise, her story, reacting to the invitation, crying, learning, accepting? The past, her friendship with Francie? Her relationship with Teddy, breaking it by text? Her pregnancy? Not being maid of honour, helping with the preparations? Her reaction to Nikki, Teddy leaving her and Nikki after he left Nikki for her? Table 19, on the outer? The encounter with Huck, talking with him, the dance, wanting the kiss – and the irony that he was the groom at the other wedding? The clashes with Teddy? With Nikki? Coming to the table, knowing everyone there, identifying them? The dance, the food, being sick? The accident and mess with the cake? To Jo’s room, the pot? Going out, walking, helped by the group? Jo the story of Teddy being nice? The change of heart, going to the ferry, calling out, Teddy wet, the truth, accepting the baby? Her wanting to be forgiven by Teddy? The final scene with the baby and the invitations? The baby’s name as Joe?

4. Teddy, appearance and manner, type, at the wedding, Best Man and his awkward speech, being with Nikki, dancing and kissing? With Eloise, his version of the breakup, the phone call and his choice of the word ridiculous, not being a good father? The revelation about his kindness and giving the gift of the bird to his sister? Change – although forgetting the baby in the apartment?

5. Jo, her story, the table, age, appearance, red wig? Her being the nanny, memories of the family, the barbed edge of her being invited, the encounter with the mother and her drinking? Alert to Eloise’s pregnancy? Buying the bird for Francie, going out away for Teddy, missing out on the blind date and angry with him? The cake, going to the room, the pot because of her illness? Going for the walk, with the other characters, Teddy and the truth?

6. Bina and Jerry, tense, the marriage, the diner, their interactions, arguments? The reasons for going to the wedding or not? Whether they had changed or not? Jerry wanting to be a detective? Bina and planning the affair, the phone call? The arguments, confrontations in the woods, the sexual encounter, the reconciliation?

7. Rezno, the arguments from his mother, the constant phone calls, preoccupation about sex, his fur tie from his father, awkward at the table, proposing the dance to the awkward girl, the reaction of the man, his bluntness about the penis? His happiness at making a rendezvous with the woman in several years time?

8. Water, Stephen Merchant’s screen personality, tall, his lies, in the institution, his partner, at the table, awkward, the successful businessmen, his favourite book? The truth about his embezzlement, the reason, his friend the conman and not having a wife needing an operation, clashes with his uncle? His helping with the dishes and the cleanup?

9. Huck, charming, talk, the dance – and the irony of who he was?

10. Nikki, with Teddy, the touch of the resentment?

11. The parents, the stern father and his business connections? The mother and her drinking?

12. The serious girl at the table, Rezno’s offer, her reaction?

13. The picture of the staff? The picture of hope by the end?