Table 19

This review may contain spoilers!

It's an incredibly simple film that doesn't claim to be anything more, and it's one brilliant feel-good story. I would give Table 19 a 7/10.

I didn't know where this film was going to place me emotionally by the end of the film when I first started watching Table 19, I had expected a laugh out loud comedy or some big soppy romance. But it was neither of these things. This is a film that sits very intimately with the cast of characters who make up the denizens of Table 19, you become very familiar very fast with who they are and the hardships that they feel in life currently. The film really does it's best to work as a best of a therapy session, as the struggles our characters are faced with are revealed it becomes increasingly obvious how lost they all are. So it's a really nice, heartening moment when this group of misfits comes together at the end happier and better for the collective experience that they faced.

Anna Kendrick, who played Eloise McGarry, was a really strong relatable lead for this film; Kendrick's was a very vulnerable role in a horrible position and I think that made her such an interesting performance to watch. Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson, who played Bina Kepp and Jerry Kepp respectively, really fit well as this couple who were standoffish with one another and at risk of falling out of love; the intensity that these two took their storyline to by the end made it all worth watching.Stephen Merchant, who played Walter Thimple, made for one of the most naturally comedic performances of the film; Merchant's awkward presence in a scene alone will have you in fits. June Squibb, who played Jo Flanagan, is really the heart of this film; the good-natured nanny that Squibb portrays is a very kind and protective figure you'll love. Thomas Cocquerel, who played Huck, is a bit of a charismatic Prince Charming in most of the scenes we see him in; Cocquerel does a great job of creating a bit of a dreamy typecast figure only to yank the blanket out from under us in later scenes.

However the best performance came from Wyatt Russell, who played Teddy. This was a character who could have been very hard to like and Russell hints at this at first. Yet as the film progresses you find that he isn't that bad of a person and he doesn't seem any less lost than Kendrick's role. I thought it was brilliant that his feelings of fear, rejection and hopelessness over having a baby came to light; Russell did a great job of showing a vulnerable man who was so absolutely human. I thought the relationship he had with Kendrick was great and the manner in which he reconciled with her by the film's end was really heartwarming.

This film is slow to kick off and doesn't exactly feel like it introduces us to the film's events in exactly the right manner. This means that the tone gets misplaced very early on, feeling like a dry rom-com instead of the dramedy it really is. I also thought it was a film bogged down with a lot of filler scenes and pointless plotlines, there's a point in the film where we keep getting shown moment after moment of minor roles making forgettable jokes and it really intrudes on more important scenes. The cinematography for the film feels very poorly crafted, often with noticeable poor decision-making when it comes to framing. The editing also moves at a very slow speed, which really does no wonders for the film's pacing issues. The soundtrack for Table 19 is another let down, often what plays is quite flavourless for the scene it accompanies.

Tony Revolori, who played Rezno Eckberg, is one of the most cringeworthy of the main leads; Revolori's character is really lustful and driven to be in a relationship which leads to an absolutely awkward subplot. Margo Martindale, who voiced Freda Eckberg, was quite an annoying presence; her piercing performance really tended to come as a severe interruption to scenes. Megan Lawless and Andrew Daly, who played Megan-Ann and Luke Pfaffler respectively, were the awkward targets of Revolori's poorly conceptualised subplot; there was nothing really funny in this exchange and it's kind of tough for Lawless and Daly to make anything out of their roles. Amanda Crew, who played Nikki, was the harsh bitchy role that tends to be in romantic movies like these; Crew's very blunt style didn't create a character with much range sadly. Richard Haylor, who played Roger Millner, didn't really develop any chemistry with Merchant beyond acknowledging him; this really wasted the potential these characters had with one another as we learn there is significant background there later on. Becky Ann Baker, who played Carol Milner, was quite an easy bit of comedy as the loud drunken mother; her obnoxious temperament wasn't really a new gag.