Table 19 ★★

ANNA Kendrick, Stephen Merchant, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow.

All good comic actors…so why isn’t the new wedding-based comedy Table 19 that funny?

Firstly, while billed as a comedy, it appears just as interested in tackling some weighty drama. But the script just doesn’t measure up and these moments simply unbalance the film for an audience.

Secondly, again a fault of the script, it doesn’t add anything new to the canon of comedies set during a wedding.

The actors are fine and their characters relatively interesting, but the film never soars in its treatment of their past and current problems.

But most importantly, it’s just not funny enough. I laughed a few times, mainly at Merchant’s character but also when a character fell deep into a chair. Other people in the cinema laughed when the same character fell over a couple of times.

When we meet Anna Kendrick’s character she is agonising over whether to attend a friend’s wedding. The best man is her ex-boyfriend and his partner in the bridal party is also his new girlfriend.

Of course she decides to go but is dumped on the dreaded Table 19, the one closest to the toilets with all the guests you had to invite but really didn’t want there in case they spoiled things.

On the table she meets a couple having marital problems, a young man scared to meet women, a grandma and an outlying relative who appears to be on a leave pass from jail. The group of misfits eventually cause all sorts of problems and bond in order to solve their problems.

So, in summary, nice cast badly let down by script. It will pass the time if you’re a Kendrick or wedding film fan, but the rest of us can wait for this one on television.