Les noces de Wilde

If it weren't for Minnie Driver I would've been bored out of my skull. My take away is that the lives of actors are excruciatingly boring. The actors do their job well and act but it's just sad and tedious. If I could only submit 3 lines my review would be completed but apparently a good review must contain more content than is necessary...sorta like this movie.

Mackenzie Darling is filming her family as her movie star grandma Eve Wilde (Glenn Close) is getting married again. Her new groom is famed writer Harold Alcott (Patrick Stewart). Her first husband and first love Laurence Darling (John Malkovich) is still in the picture. There are cousins, uncles, and Mackenzie's divorced parents, Priscilla Jones (Minnie Driver) and Ethan Darling (Peter Facinelli).

Filmmaker Damian Harris is following the wrong characters. There are too many of them with too many relationships. I had trouble following the kids and some of the uncles. With the great cast up top, this should be concentrating more on the veteran love triangle. They should be the stars of the show. The writing is average at best. It's meandering and rambling. It's quirky without actually being funny. There are all kinds of possibilities that don't get enough nurturing. The biggest sin is wasting these great actors' time.

The Wilde wedding is that of Eve Wilde, a retired actress about to marry for the 4th time. Invited to the wedding is her ex-husband, her children, her grandchildren, her husband to be, his daughters, a few exes and a friend or two throw in. When introduced to guests/characters, a predictable chaos ensues. Harold (Patrick Stewart) is the groom to be who believes Eve will be the one to change him. Her ex-husband Laurence (John Malkovich) is both comfortable and uncomfortable as a guest in his own home.

The setting is supposedly in an upstate New York home, the grounds are beautiful, the home is spacious and classic. They all appear to be getting along until the pivotal event occurs, but of course you knew there would be one. It all ends as you think it will. Still I liked the film, why? Because it has some of my favorite actors in it and it didn't have some hidden meaning in the end. Good film with a glass of wine and an appetizer.

Suggestion: Pino grigio and crab dip

I read some of the previous reviews of this movie but - being a fan of the three stars - my husband and I decided to watch it last evening anyway. It was a shame that the basic premise (former movie star Eve/Glenn getting married for 4th time to writer Harold/Patrick while 1st husband Laurence/John is present as a friend of his ex-wife). Nice little premise that moves predictably through the script.

However, at least two of Eve's and Laurence's 3 adult son's plus their significant others and children and one of Harold's 2 adult daughters could have been eliminated from the picture all together as contributing nothing to the main plot but just adding to the movie's (and this viewer's) confusion.

Someone needed to take a red pen to this script before it began filming so that the focus would be where it belonged - on exploring the complicated relationship of Eve/Harold/Laurence and let these powerful stars shine instead of being relegated to bemused bystanders within their own storyline.

Some great talent in this film, beginning, at the top, with Glenn Close. Unfortunately, the plot hangs on John Malkovich, and, for me, there was no reason to get behind a positive outcome that includes his character. Back to the great cast, though, the young cast were superb (Bridgette Lundy-Paine and Grace Van Patten) with Minnie Driver and Patrick Stewart showing off their comedic chops. The premise was predictable (no matter how much I yelled at the screen, "No, not Malkovich!") but most of the time, the characters were drawn to be unappealing, vapid and uninteresting. So, all thing considered, I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Romantic Comedy}