Casamento em Família

It starts out with several minutes of credits - and I'm not talking about names on top of scenic landscapes in the background, literally just white text on a black screen. But, at least the original song "Always You" was playing, which I liked. It was very obvious that the story was originally a play and was not adapted much for a screenplay of a movie. There was a lot of dialogue...I mean A LOT. And sometimes it seemed like they were talking in circles or in a translated language because I didn't even understand what they were talking about. It also felt like it didn't have enough characters and lacked a variety of scenery and settings. With such a great cast list and well-known writer/director (for TV anyways), I had higher hopes but there was much room for improvement in terms of making it into a romcom movie.

I'm not sure why they made this a movie. It's clearly a play. The monologues are play worthy, the acting is play worthy, even the blocking is stage worthy. While the acting IS stellar, it's awkward as a movie. The main cast is fantastic, and the 4 parents definitely play opposite their usual. The couple in love have very little chemistry, and her lines border on slapstick. The thing is, I don't remember any of their names because it was SO strange to watch on screen. I would love to see this written as a play script and acted on stage with the same cast. It would read so much better if it was seen live.

Deep sigh.... you know that sinking feeling right at the beginning of a movie WHEN you immediately recognize the movie you are watching is a STINKER, a FLOP, well there you have it...

The bad: this movie shouldnt have been made. It was made anyway AND advertised SOLELY to attract an OLDER audience who recognizes these fabulous names of Richard Gere and Diane Keaton. Even William H. Macey was (and still is) a great actors, but this is a SENIORS movie with only some young B-actors thrown in to at least try and attract SOME youngsters to go watch it. I doubt any youngsters will go watch this FLOP. And deservedly so...

I feel sorry for anyone who decided to go watch this empty vessel, this hollow surrogate of a movie.

Recommended to be AVOIDED like the plague. You have been warned....

The story isn't bad but the conversations are unbelievably bad. None of them flow and most of time not even believable. I can't imagine anyone one in any of the situations would behave the way every single characters does in every scene. It's like they are all awkward individuals that can't communicate or act appropriately. Maybe one person might be weird and a bad conversationalist, but everyone in the movie? It makes the whole movie hard to get into and believe. I don't think it's bad acting, although it comes off that way, because it's a good cast. I think it is the writing that ruined the whole movie. It seems lazy and not thought out at all. There isn't a single articulate conversation in the whole movie. Such a bummer because the cast is great.

The one thing i wanted to comment on about this movie is its dull visual style. There is almost no visual language at all. Every shot lacks almost any dynamism/movement. The color palette is fairly bland. The lighting is purely utilitarian. The weather is not used in any visually suggestive or symbolic way. There is a lot of grey, dark tones, shadows. In short, its dull visual quality only highlights the more talky and pedantic aspects of the script. It was originally a stage play and it's almost as if director Michael Jacobs-whose background is in TV-doesn't realize that a stage is at least well-lit. This is his directorial debut so I'll cut him some slack (as though he cares what I think lol), and I will admit I laughed a number of times. Macy gets all the good lines. Gere is stuffy and somnambulistic. Keaton is very good. Sarandon is okay too. I think Luke Bracey was the worst piece of acting in the film, and I imagine it's because he wasn't given enough takes, or that he didn't fully understand his character, which I would cut him some slack for because I didn't fully understand him for most of the film either. So, you can watch this movie, but I recommend stopping in the middle to get to bed and then forgetting to watch the rest.