'People We Hate at the Wedding' review: It's not engaging

WHAT IT'S ABOUT "The People We Hate at the Wedding" aces the casting part of the romantic comedy equation. It's fronted by Kristen Bell, Allison Janney and Ben Platt. That's not to mention Cynthia Addai-Robinson ("The Rings of Power"), frequent Jim Jarmusch collaborator Isaach de Bankolé and brief appearances from the likes of Lizzy Caplan, Tony Goldwyn, Andy Daly ("Review"), Lonely Island member Jorma Taccone and more.

The talent only makes it more of a bummer when it becomes apparent that the movie, streaming on Prime Video, has little interest in offering more than a tired, formulaic tread through the same-old genre fluff, a cavalcade of stereotypes.

Janney plays Donna, mom to the British Eloise (Addai-Robinson) and her American half-siblings, Alice (Bell) and Paul (Platt). Eloise seems kindhearted, albeit a classic Hollywood conception of a stodgy Briton.

The American kids, on the other hand, are bit of a mess: Alice is having an affair with her married-with-child boss (Taccone); Paul's not talking to Donna, while being stuck with a dead-end job doing weird experimental therapy and a boyfriend (Karan Soni) who operates on a much different wavelength.

They're not exactly thrilled with the prospect of traveling to London for Eloise's wedding, resisting the invitation at first. But at the exact right moment that screenplay convention demands, they relent, head across the pond with Mom, and the lightweight festival of familial dysfunction begins.

MY SAY The movie from director Claire Scanlon and screenwriters Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin and Wendy Molyneux revolves around this family's estrangement, the festering resentments and emotional baggage. Yet it's so focused on obvious, rapid-fire bits that none of the deeper stuff lands.

The actors have little chance to develop these characters and flesh out their relationships when they're being thrust into groan-worthy meet cutes — as when Alice just happens to sit next to the impossibly handsome Dennis (Dustin Milligan) on her flight to the United Kingdom — or forced into wrenchingly unconvincing situations involving, say, a floating hot tub, or a sex scene that veers into slapstick comedy.

Add some obvious British American culture clash jokes into the mix, at least one reunion between long-lost exes and an emotional scene set in a Taco Bell — with a Pepsi logo as big as the moon front-and-center on a soda cup — and you've got a pretty cynical and calculated movie that's pretending to aspire toward thoughtful human comedy.

Let's be real: This is a difficult genre to do well. There are certain plot points that have to be hit in order to fulfill expectations. To borrow a cliche in writing about a movie filled with them, it really has to be about the journey. We know the destination from the outset.

Still, there has to be more than this.

The occasional gag lands. The caliber of the cast ensures that at least some standard of competence gets reached.

But that's about all "The People We Hate at the Wedding" has to offer.

BOTTOM LINE If your happiness or well-being absolutely depends on seeing every last romantic comedy, give it a shot.