The People We Hate at the Wedding

Ginder (Driver’s Education) takes family dysfunction to its hysterical limit in this joyously ribald, sharply cynical, and impossible-to-put-down examination of love and loyalty. Mining the rich vein of comedy and drama inherent in a lavish, over-the-top wedding, Ginder spins the stories of siblings Alice and Paul, half-sister and bride-to-be Eloise, and their mother, Donna, as they make their way to Eloise’s nuptials in a quaint hamlet in the southwest of England. For Alice and Paul, the trip is fraught with a troubled family and personal history: they’re both in poisonous and doomed relationships and see Eloise as the snotty daughter of a rich, absent dad, and Donna as a coldhearted widow who quickly ditched all remnants of their father after his death. During the boozy prewedding days, the resentment and secrets come tumbling out in outbursts and dangerously, hilariously bad decisions. As a happy ending seems to slip further out of sight, Ginder provides far better: laughter and hope. “Love may disappoint,” Paul tells cold-footed Eloise before she walks down the aisle, “but that doesn’t absolve us from the duty of loving.” (June)