"Table 19" is an uneasy mix of indie comedy and maudlin narrative.
The new comedy "Table 19" comes with a sterling cast of comedic actors (Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson and Lisa Kudrow among them), an indie pedigree (the story is from the Duplass brothers), and an institution like weddings ripe for the takedown. So why isn't writer/director Jeff Blitz's film funnier? For starters, it wants to eat its wedding cake and have it too. The movie tries hard to make the audience laugh, but it also wants us to shed a lot of maudlin tears for their characters' backstories. In fact, the story barely seems interested in the wedding they've all RSVP'd for, and spends way too much time, literally and figuratively, wandering in the nearby woods. The potential was there with all this talent, but this party stops being fun well before its final dance.