The Wedding Guest

Just to put in plain and simple words, the start of the movie was brilliant the director right away catches the attention of the audience and they get lured into the storyline. Dev was great no doubt about that but the only issue I have throughout the film was the background of the female lead character (Radhika Apte). The director didn't give out any such information on how the personality of the female lead is and how it would react in situations put before the movie. The rest is brilliant. I do understand one could say on one of the dialogues when Radhika asks Dev can you I trust you and he says No maybe that is the answer but once again that is situational not the background. Anyways its a good movie but the ending as I agree with my fellow watchers could have been great instead of the this then this movie would have done more business guaranteed.

The Wedding Guest should have been an engaging and rock solid thriller like t was advertised to be (the trailer is arguably one of the best I've seen in awhile). Unfortunately, the movie was a huge slog and went on for way too long without really going anywhere or proving anything. Dev Patel was fantastic as always and the romance was great, but at what cost?

C-

"The Wedding Guest" (2018 release from the UK; 97 min.) brings the story of Jay. As the movie opens, he is packing his bags (including multiple passports), and before we know it he is on his way from London to Lahore, Pakistan. Once there, he rents a car and finds a place where he buys 2 hand guns. He eventually ends up in Punjab... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from veteran UK writer-director Michael Winterbottom. Here he brings a story of a mysterious guy who looks like he's up to no good. And what actually is he up to? Probably Winterbottom keeps us purposefully on our toes and guessing for a long time. Frankly, one-third into the movie (the half hour mark) and I had no idea who was who or what the big picture was. But then it started to make sense, slowly but surely. And before I realized it, the movie had also taken quite a different direction that what I had anticipated. The movie benefits enormously from Dev "Slumdog Millionaire" Patel's excellent work. He is in virtually every frame of the movie. It feels like he's been around since forever, but Patel is still not even 30 years old! Indian actress Radhika Apte brings the female lead, and turns out to be a worthy sparring partner for Patel. The Apte character asks the Patel character at one point "Can I trust you?", and he responds "No". How can you not like a guy who is so truthful? The movie regretfully suffers from a weak ending. But in the end, Winterbottom succeeds in keeping my interest quasi non-stop by making this a fast-paced movie with likable lead performers and an authentic background vibe as to how things are in Pakistan and India (the never-ending traffic chaos, for one!).

"The Wedding Guest" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, and it opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this past weekend. The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (2 people, including myself). I would be surprised if this plays more than a week. But if you are in the mood for an exotic drama set in Pakistan and India, I might suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Great beginning interesting cultural arranged wedding storyline great streetscapes taking me back to India and Pakistan action adventure drama romance - I kind of liked the abrupt unhappy yet happy ending It felt realistic (or maybe that's just from my experience with romance hahaa) I liked it! 7 out of 10!!

I would like to give this movie a higher rating. Both of the leads are incredibly attractive, and good actors who created characters who quickly captured my interest. The settings gave me an satisfying dose of some aspects of Indian and Pakistani culture and day to day realities, and what it might be like to exist in that space as a moderately privileged person. The plot setup in the beginning 25 minutes or so was good, and I thought "This might really go somewhere". But it didn't. It just kind of sat there, and then ended.