THE BIG WEDDING
DIRECTOR: Justin Zackham
CAST: Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Katherine Heigl, Ben Barnes, Topher Grace
CLASSIFICATION: 13 LNS
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes
RATING: *
Writer-director Justin Zackham has one incredible asset at his disposal for The Big Wedding: an exceptional cast, which includes Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried (pictured with Ben Barnes) and Robin Williams.
Sadly, superior talent can propel a movie only so far. Bad scripts beget bad movies.
The story, based on the film Mon Frere Se Marie, launches just before the wedding of the Griffin family’s youngest adopted son. The fraught, joyous event promises to reunite the whole clan. The problem is that patriarch Don (De Niro) hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Ellie (Keaton), in 10 years, and he’s shacked up with her best friend, Bebe (Sarandon). Further complicating things, daughter Lyla (Heigl) disdains her father.
The groom, Alejandro (Barnes), has invited his ultra-Catholic Colombian biological mother and sister to the nuptials. Fearing they may blanch at his adoptive parents’ separation, he (in a Birdcage -like twist) requests that Don and Ellie pretend to still be married, just for the weekend.
The comedy lacks one important ingredient: a truly likeable, or even mildly relatable, character.
Don takes the title of most offensive persona. The ageing lech may be challenging himself to drop as many expletives as possible. He brags to his daughter about his talents for “laying pipe” and, in one scene, delivers a two-for-one pickup line, simultaneously hitting on his ex-wife and his paramour.
While matriarch Ellie is a bit of a nightmare, especially when discussing tantric sex at dinner, Lyla edges her out on the most-horrifying-character list. She is bitter and mean.
Pug enthusiast Bebe is far more enjoyable, although between her embroidery room, home-made kombucha and organic catering company, she’s more caricature than authentic individual.
When Williams appears on-screen in a priest’s collar, something funny – meaning interesting, not comedic – happens. Reflexively, the audience begins to giggle. He doesn’t even have to say a word. And maybe it would be better if he didn’t, because even the seasoned comedian can’t land the movie’s lazy jokes, as he questions the betrothed couple about premarital sex and contraception.
Among the few bright spots is Grace, who plays the Griffins’ oldest son, a virgin doctor pushing 30. His timing and expressions may remind audiences why the actor once starred in his own sitcom. And Seyfried has an effortless screen presence that, even amid the contrived farce, feels natural.
As the movie trudges toward its conclusion, the script attempts to ferret out emotion from the audience. But by then there’s no chance of feeling sympathy for a cad and his mostly mean-spirited family. Even the softies, who always cry at weddings, will probably leave the theatre dry-eyed, not to mention feeling a little empty inside. – Washington Post
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