The Big Wedding
Big Wedding is a fluffy, yet memorable, romantic dramedy (though, it’s heavier on the comedy) about love in all its various forms.
The title ofThe Big Weddingrefers to the impending marriage between Alejandro ( Ben Barnes ) , a well - to - do Harvard alumnus , and Missy ( Amanda Seyfried ) , who is his longtime protagonist and a young woman who comes from a moneyed , white collar background . Alejandro actualize that , in orderliness to secure the blessing of his biologic female parent ( Patricia Rae ) - a traditional Catholic from Colombia who isliterallynamed Madonna - he will have to fib a piddling about the modus vivendi of his adopted parents .
trouble is , Alejandro ’s adopted dad Donald ( Robert De Niro ) and mom Ellie ( Diane Keaton ) got divorced over a decade ago , and Don has since lived with his girlfriend - and Ellie ’s formerbestfriend - Bebe ( Susan Sarandon ) . So , in an effort to keep everything running smoothly , Bebe volitionally volunteers to remove herself from the movie and let Don and Ellie hazard they ’re still married ; though , it ’s easier said than done , over the the course of a weekend that fetch to light the small secrets ofeveryonein the family .
Big Weddingis a ( very ) loose remake of the 2006 French - language filmMon frère se marie , and standardised to the previous American consider on European sullen comedy and satirical transportation ( see : Dinner for Schmucks ) , the final result is an queer duck of a movie . Whereas its harbinger is first a biting travesty about societal class , bighearted Weddingblends elements of screwball funniness and mushy domestic drama together , with an unco grownup perspective on issues of sex , kinship and strong-arm attracter . Surprisingly , these ingredients merge to form an now and again charming and , overall , funnily watchable variation on your average American drollery about a dysfunctional marriage .
Much of the credit for that winner ( no shock ) belong to the three Oscar - succeeder in the roll : De Niro , Keaton and Sarandon , whose characters are the heart and mortal of the moving-picture show ; not to note , their report is the consolidative train of thought in the screenplay written by Justin Zackham , who also send . Indeed , much like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson brought emotional authenticity to Zackham’sBucket Listscript , the veteran playing vets inBig Weddingmake everything seem more convincing - be it the still - entire friendship between Ellie and Bebe or those two women ’s shared affections for the incorrigible horndog and passee - alcoholic creative person Donald ( a role that De Niro , gratefully , commits to , rather than phoning it in ) - and thus , manage to keep this singular ship afloat .
That ’s all the more important , because those additional subplots and character reference inBig Weddingare , unluckily , kind of dull and ineffectual by comparison . Indeed , Barnes ( Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian ) and Seyfried ( Les Misérables ) both have a pleasant sieve presence , and each one catch a moment to smooth ; however , in the lordly scheme of matter , the pair does n’t have much to do beyond moving the transactions forwards and serving as the butt of gag about their differences in race , religious inheritance , and social standing . By the fourth dimension their plot line gain its conclusion , the emotional payoff is almost an second thought .
Similarly , Topher Grace ( Spider - Man 3 ) and Katherine Heigl ( The Ugly Truth ) are typecast as Don and Ellie ’s adult nestling : a 29 - year old ( virginal ) doctor and attorney with relationship problems , severally . gracility , as ever , is the pitiable but sympathetic guy , who ’s really there to provide more drollery , while he chases after Alejandro ’s gratis - spirited biological sister Nuria ( Ana Ayora ) . Heigl ’s plot line , by comparing , is about excited catharsis and serves as a thematic foil to the other narrative threads , but the actress ( no-good to say ) is n’t capable to make the fabric as touching as it ’s meant to be , despite the substantial crusade of those around her .
Zackham ’s playscript , as indicated above , is mostly a drollery of manners , but there are traces of satire and forcemeat scatter throughout the celluloid . However , much of that is stiffen to the corroborate role , which includes Missy ’s too big for one’s breeches parents Barry ( David Rasche ) and Muffin ( Christine Ebersole ) , as well as the well - humor Father Moinighan , who is portrayed by an uncharacteristically buttoned - down Robin Williams . There ’s not much satiric bite to any of their scene , but the moments with Williams are worth a few chuckles ; meanwhile , Rasche and Ebersole are not onscreen long enough to go away a memorable imprint , goodorbad .
Sometimes , Zackham is his own worst enemy , when he punctuates the raw and heartfelt plot round with spacious humor , be it slapstick by a lake or a salacious gag at the dinner table . yet , his screenplay offer a refreshingly ripe take on forcible desire , with the comprehension of plainspoken duologue and characters take attitudes about sex that feel more realistic than in recent fixed storage - coms that’ve attempted to provide hearing with a modern-day perspective on that subject ( ex . No Strings Attached ) . Zackham also deserves credit for keeping the editing and camerawork nice and fair ( saving for a couple of 360 - degree goat god shot ) , so the filmmaking does n’t distract from the role player - driven funniness onscreen .
Big Weddingis a fluffy , yet memorable , romantic dramedy ( though , it ’s heavy on the comedy ) about love in all its various form . The style the film weaves together the raunchier cloth and gooey sentiment will leave ( some ? many ? ) motion-picture fan either annoyed or not trusted what to make of it all .
Ben Barnes and Amanda Seyfried in ‘The Big Wedding’
However , to paraphrase one of the characters in the flick , at least this is one marriage ceremony movie that you wo n’t be forgetting anytime soon ; if that sound salutary to you , then check it out .
The Big Weddingis now in U.S. theaters . It is 90 second longsighted and Rated R for spoken language , sexual content and brief nudeness .
Ben Barnes and Amanda Seyfried in ‘The Big Wedding’
The great marriage ceremony is a 2013 ensemble drollery direct by Justin Zackham . The photographic film follows a long - divorced duad , portray by Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton , who must pretend to be happily married during their adopted Word ’s wedding . The cast includes Katherine Heigl , Amanda Seyfried , and Robin Williams , contributing to the comedic complications of the nuptial weekend .
Robet De Niro and Katherine Heigl in ‘The Big Wedding’
Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in ‘The Big Wedding’
