O Beijo da Noiva

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!

The Sposato sisters are returning to the family home to attend Danni's (Amanda Detmer) wedding. The oldest Nikki (Brooke Langton) is in a sexy TV show as eye candy. Chrissy (Vanessa Parise) is a high power investment banker on Wall Street. The youngest Toni (Monet Mazur) is still trying to shock bringing her lesbian lover Amy (Alyssa Milano).

It's a lot of sisterly function and dysfunction. This is low budget indie with its heart in the right place. Everybody has a problem, and everybody has to work through it. The missing element is the comedy. There may be a few cute moments, but there isn't a real funny joke in this. I don't know if writer/director/actor Vanessa Parise has it in her, but this script is in need of a funny writer. The jokes would counter balance the more serious stuff. It would make the movie more poignant.

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')

this is the perfect "sit on the couch on a Sunday" movie. the characters, although stereotypical, are each rather endearing. the extended family is fun to watch,as it offers some insight into the traditional Italian family. the sisters deal with the same issues that many modern day siblings tackle, i.e. the pressure to leave home and find success rather than attempt to remain in their small town and find it where their roots are. unfortunately, the movie is predictable, as my girlfriends and i had the majority of the ending pegged in the first half hour. it does it's job as a light and airy way to spend two hours. enjoy.

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.