Sione's Wedding

I loved this movie - you really feel the friendship amongst these guys - it's not a perfect movie in the "Three Act Structure/Everyone has an arc way" - but it's funny and real and the guys are easy to relate to - and it's ultimately emotional. I understand why it's a big hit in NZ. I think the actors were all in a comedy troupe together which explains their chemistry. It's interesting that the Samoan culture in NZ seems to be akin to the black/hip-hop culture in the States - they even have their version of the "wigger". I also like that the flick is fairly natural - not to broad like a lot of comedies. It was also interesting to learn more about the Samoan community - they weren't too heavy handed with the racial angle though. It reminded me a bit of a cross between Wedding Crashers and Diners. Seems ripe for a Yank remake.

"Sione's Wedding" was pretty good. It wasn't an earth-shattering, pants-messing, orgasm-inducing, child-bearing, milk-out-the-nose, change-the-world-in-one-day epic, but it was still pretty good. Yes, the plot was predictable, some of the jokes were tired, not all of the acting was spectacular, but to expect something that changes the world is pretty unfair. There are HUGE stars and studio's who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create a lot less. I rarely see a genre that is so divisive and inspires so much animosity as comedy. Why? Nothing places people more squarely into the "like" or "absolutely hate" category.

I found "Sione's Wedding" to be a good story about men, who just happen to be Samoan, who have a typical "Peter-pan complex" and are rebelling against growing up every chance they get until they actually see the benefit of maturity and wisdom. This is a common and modern theme. Some of the moments were genuinely touching and some of the jokes really really funny.

I can tell you this, though, it is the only full-length motion picture comedy with a fully Samoan ensemble cast that I've ever seen, at least here in the states. Doesn't this account for something? Not bad for a first try, I say.

For a slice of life (or larger than life) in the Samoan community, Sione's Wedding is a perfect vehicle. Of course it's over the top, but in all caricatures there are some truths.

Four guys, well past their sell-by date, habitually spoil community celebrations with their drunken bad manners. The minister of the Samoan church tells them they are banned from the next wedding, (Sione's) unless they can bring partners - women being considered to have a calming influence on Samoan men. Ha!

And the film is about the various ways they try to find dates. The old double-standard applies of course: Michael can sleep with a different girl every night (some of them married) and be regarded as a bloke to look up to. When a Samoan girl arrives from the Islands and shows the same sort of tendencies, Hello! She's a tramp.

There's the guy whose drinking is spoiling his relationship with his live-in, and the hopeless dreamer who haunts the personal ads for his "ideal girl", and the "wimp" (who does not come across as wimpy at all) scared of women and living with his Mama well into his 30's.

If you watched this and the movie "No2" you'll get the impression Pacific Islands people are into power-control, macho and alcohol (not that it is confined to PI, but this is what these films highlighted) so it's a shame that in Sione's Wedding, they did not balance that, (as in No.2) with some of the more positive aspects of PI life.

There was the obligatory derogatory reference to a fat person (the way most bad films get a cheap laugh these days) In this case one of the guys took a plump girl to bed and a thin chick later said, 'Euw, you slept with Sasquatch?' Great stuff.

However, one of the funniest lines from the movie (and this will give you the level of humour it relied upon) was with the same big girl,

'You told me you were a Size 14.'

'I am.' '

'Your feet maybe.'

This portrays Samoans the way 'Once Were Warriors' portrayed Maori. In other words there is a *grain* of truth in it but the characters are so stereotyped as to be laughable - where laughter isn't appropriate. And sad where it is.

I've given it such high marks because there is such a rich pattern in the movie, it has so much between the lines, it's the kind of film you think about later and notice lots of underlying themes and messages which don't, at first, strike you. So it's well worth the dollars.

A brilliant combination of good jokes, clever sight gags and neat characters.

OK, it's a bit contrived in parts and you can pretty much guess the story and its outcomes after seeing the trailer, but it does handle things differently enough to be very rewarding. Fun, funny and surprisingly well acted.

Oscar Kightley and the rest of the Naked Samoan group play with racial stereotypes in their usual harmlessly funny way. They make the point without shoving it down your throat. The humour is not your typical Hollywood style; which gives the whole production a certain freshness.

The only thing that lets the film down a little is the director's choice to do sequences of still frame shots (in music video style). It really doesn't have any impact other than to become annoying. Fortunately, it doesn't get out of control.

On the whole, though, it was a fantastic film. I can't wait to see it again.

I highly enjoyed this film, even though some of the acting wasn't always fantastic.

This film will definitely appeal to Pacific Islanders, or people who know Islanders because the jokes are so true! Coming from a school where the colour of skin is mostly brown, I recognised all the jokes and nearly wet my pants laughing! The favourite for me had to Derek the white Samoan from Glenfeild, who reminded me of so many white try hard gangsters at my school.

Definitely go see this film, unless you are from Christchurch because then you won't understand it because there are no brown people down that way.

Duckrockers Fo' life!