Kiss the Bride

I found Kiss the Bride to be an edgy, enjoyable, movie ride with some superbly timed dramatic and comedic surprises along the way.

The pace of the movie was good and the score was great - it really complemented the goings-on on screen. The characters all showed varying degrees of insight into familial relationships, making choices about life, and then reevaluating those life choices. Some questions got resolved and answered, to some degree, during the course of the movie, others remained open-ended and unresolved - a lot like life. The characters also showed some pretty human flaws like insensitivity, self absorption, ingratitude. Put all together, it made for a very good movie. Sit back and enjoy!

In Rhode Island, in the Italo-American family Sposato, Danni (Amanda Detmer) is going to marry Geoffrey Brancato (Johnathon Schaech). Danni is virgin, lives with her parents Santo (Burt Young) and Irena (Talia Shire) and is the third and 'the good daughter' of her family. Her three sisters come for her wedding: the older Nikki (the gorgeous Brooke Langton), a successful TV starlet, who works in a TV show very similar to 'Baywatch'. Nikki brings her boy-friend and manager Marty Weinberg (Johnny Whitworth) to be introduced to her family. Chrissy (Vanessa Parise), who deals with investments in Wall Street; and the rebel younger Toni (Monet Mazur), who plays in a rock-and- roll band with her lesbian lover Amy Kayne (Alissa Milano). Together, they have meals in the restaurant of Tom Terranova (Sean Patrick Flanery), the former and first love of Nikki. Many discussions in the breast of the Sposato family show wounds not healed, when the characters expose their real feelings.

This lovely low budget movie is a gem about themes related to family, relationship, love, feeling, religion and sex. I respect, but do not understand the unfair 'IMDB User Rating' of only 5.6, specially after seeing the 'Demographic Breakdown', the 'Arithmetic Mean' of 7.8 and the 'Median' of 9. The story about a Latin Catholic family is wonderful and the performances of the beautiful cast are excellent. There is romance, comedy and drama in right doses. I was particularly impressed with the beauty of Brooke Langton, and the wonderful smile of Vanessa Parise. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'O Beijo da Noiva' ('The Kiss of the Bride')

I don't understand why movies try to portray characters of a certain religion when they don't know anything about the religion. I saw the sign of the cross made with the left hand, heard that the church is wrong in teaching that marital intercourse should not be enjoyed (what?!? the Church doesn't teach that at all!), and a supposed Catholic conservative couple get married outside the Church. It takes minimal knowledge to know these and yet they didn't bother to figure it out. It was a cheesy, brainless movie otherwise. If you are looking for a predictable movie that doesn't require your full attention, then this could be what you are seeking.

In case you've been wondering what Burt Young and Talia Shire have been doing lately, Kiss the Bride will let you rest assured that they are still churning out roles in Italo-American crowd pleasers. If you aren't particularly interested in what Burt Young and Talia Shire have been doing lately, then there's absolutely no reason to watch this film. Director Vanessa Parise's Kiss the Bride, is a shamelessly derivative, utterly superfluous contribution to the current inundation of ethnic wedding films. It should be coming soon to your nearest cable station. That's where it belongs.

I am a huge fan of Sean Patrick Flanery, I am not kidding. His work and not to mention his beautiful looks always get me, and when I noticed at Hollywood Video they had Kiss the Bride, I didn't hesitate to pick it up and watch it at home. Yes, I was a bit shallow, I kinda watched it just to see Sean, because I love him so. But I got more than that, I got an nice and honest movie about sisterhood and how differences can tear and pull back together a family. The acting and movie in general is a good one with some water wrenching moments. Although there were a few things they could have patched up, like some of the plots were not ending well or the characters could have been more developed, over all this is a movie I would recommend for a watch.

7/10