Anna Kendrick is one of those actresses who seems to be on the cusp of being an A-list talent but hasn’t quite made the jump yet. After rising to prominence as perhaps the biggest star to come out of the Twilight franchise in hindsight, Kendrick has become everyone’s favorite actress that hasn’t quite become a regular at the theater. She’s had a stellar performance or two, most notably in Up in the Air, a hit franchise out of nowhere in Pitch Perfect and a hit autobiography.
But she’s emblematic of how hard it is for an actor to really break through at the box office. Twenty to thirty years ago a film like Table 19 would’ve found a way into theaters in the way Tom Hanks had a number of films continually put into theaters despite box office losses because Hanks was going to be a star. Kendrick is in that same sort of sphere a young Hanks was; she is on the verge of being a star but truly being a star is still defined by box office success.
With studios unwilling to take a risk on films in the theater underneath a certain budget amount, the mid-tier comedy has all but disappeared. Which is why a film like Table 19, which would’ve been a cult classic in 1987, is a forgettable direct to video release that deserves to be forgotten.
Simple premise. Eloise (Kendrick) was the maid of honor at a wedding, opposite her boyfriend as best man, when she’s demoted and dumped at the same time. She decides to go anyway and winds up at Table 19, where all the people who were courtesy invites get dumped. From there it’s a night of shenanigans as Eloise and the reject table wind up figuring out their lives via their interactions with one another.
A good way to look at this film is as Kendrick’s Bachelor Party, Hanks’ forgettable comedy from many years ago. It was a showcase of everything that made Hanks great but otherwise wasn’t all that impressive of a film. Table 19 is a similar film in that regard; Kendrick is impressive but you’re better off finding it in a Redbox before buying it.
Some EPK pieces and deleted scenes are the highlight.
20th Century Fox presents Table 19. Directed by Jeffrey Blitz. Written by Blitz, Mark and Jay Duplass. Starring Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow . Run Time: 87 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on: 6.13.2017
