Matrimonio con l'ex

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.

An all-star ensemble cast gathers at the palatial home of retired movie star Eve Wilde (Glenn Close), as she prepares to marry (her fifth) novelist Harold Alcott (Patrick Stewart). Close and John Malkovich,who portrays her first husband Laurence, are strong on screen, and I liked the performance of Yael Stone, as Clementine, one of Harold's daughters, in a supporting role.

However, despite the terrific cast, I found the film itself quite disappointing with almost all the characters self-indulgent and shallow. Their continuous attempts at having sexual flings get quite tedious.

Overall, this movie, written and directed by Damian Harris, just came across to me as hollow and soulless.

I was going to start out saying this is a Woody Allen clone film, but then thought well, heck, there's a whole genre of films out there that I would call the upper-middle class family relationship genre. What usually implies Woody Allen is when they're set in New York, as this film is, and the family is Jewish, which was not stated in this film, nor was it not stated.

That said, The Wilde Wedding had much about it that kept me watching: good looking and interesting characters, some of whom are also celebrities in the arts and/or literature; pleasing physical settings in the suburbs and rural areas not far outside NYC; and ultimately, musings on the nature of love and marital relationships, and others, while the families act out some of these relationships.

What I especially liked about it was that even when things got somewhat strained between characters, overall the tone of the film was good-natured. There is some tongue-in-cheek humor, and some wine- and shroom- fueled antics which ultimately contribute to the overall happy mood.

Though it touches on some of the heavy subjects of life, highlighted with quotes by some of the heavies such as Shakespeare and Nietzsche, The Wilde Wedding is an hour and a half's worth of enjoyable film viewing.

The best thing about this movie is a slight scent of nostalgia for Malkovich and Close as young actors. They worked together in the memorable Dangerous Liaisons and they're best remembered in that masterpiece.

However, time passes by so quickly and in this film Close plays Eve, a big, pluri-divorced movie star, while Malkovich is Laurence, her first husband and a slight caricature of himself, as a famous theatre actor with bigger professional reputation, but not Eve's fame or money. They both are good and so is Patrick Stewart, the British would be fifth husband.

Gathering to Eve's house before the wedding, these older characters acknowledge that their life is drawing to a close and they must find a way to deal with the dwindling time they have left.

Unfortunately, philosophical speculation is just a short interlude in a plot filled with too many characters. Coming to the wedding are Eve and Laurence's three grown-up sons, all single or divorced, their children, one ex-wife, plus the groom's two daughters and a truckload of young, half-naked female friends and lesbian lovers.

Most of the plot feels like a nightmare where you forget the name of the people they've just introduced and their relations to each other, while all the characters seem busy having casual sex with each other.

Probably that's the way it goes in the world of rockstars, famous novelist and movie stars, but that doesn't necessarily make a good movie. Shame about the mediocre script that suffocates Malkovich and Close's performances.

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