Do You Take This Man

This is not a titillating, first date two kisses and in the sack movie. This is an excellent character study. I left with a strong sense that the writer compiled singular or multiple experiences from which to weave a story. For some it may be too slow. I prefer to view it as thoughtful, allowing a better development of the individual characters. Although the ending might be slightly saccharin, this was overall a very rewarding story and well played by each actor.

This is a wonderfully heartwarming simply story about the day just prior to the wedding of two men who love each other deeply, but still have a lot to learn about love and marriage. The performance feel totally honest. As the grandparent of a gay woman, I was particularly impressed by the parents of one of the two men. I highly recommend this excellent film.

Do You Take This Man (2016) was written and directed by Joshua Tunick.

This movie is a romantic comedy, starring Anthony Rapp as Daniel, a 40-year-old man, and Jonathan Bennett as Christopher, a 30-something man, who is going to marry Daniel the next day. As in almost all movies about weddings, things go wrong at the last minute. Some people who should be there aren't, and some people arrive unexpectedly.

And, of course, there's a major, core problem that has to be overcome. (Actually, it could have been overcome easily, but then there'd be no crisis. Crisis is very important in a movie like this.)

The lead actors are talented, the supporting cast of actors all do brilliant work, and there are plenty of laughs. (Predictable laughs, but that's OK.) There's also a fair amount of pscyhobabble, but maybe people really do talk and think that way in the Los Angeles/Hollywood setting.

This is the type of film that's worth seeing if you are already at a festival, and have all-event tickets. I wouldn't seek it out, but I wouldn't avoid it either. IMDb isn't accepting votes for this movie yet. If I could vote, I'd give it a 7.

We saw this film at the excellent Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It will work very well on the small screen. Do You Take This Man was shown as part of the outstanding ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film Festival. The film was one of 22 movies that had either their New York State premiere or their East Coast premiere at ImageOut. My compliments to the ImageOut Programming Committee for bringing so many new films to Rochester.

The plot is a bit of a bore but the message this movie offers is the reason for my high score.

And that message is - when it comes to marriage each partner should give 60%. Here we have two guys deeply in love with each other but each still wants it his way! That won't work and never will.

The script is fine and each actor competent in their role. Not each as believable as the other but the foundation of this film is it's message to the viewer.

The primary flaw with this movie is that there is no character development of the two leads. We don't know much about them on the eve of their planned wedding, yet we are expected to cry a river when trouble in paradise arises. Acting was alright. The stand out was the actor playing Jason. He seemed like the only polished pro on the set. The most memorable part of the script was what the dad had to say about his son's gayness. His thoughts were logical, rational and caring....and not a perspective that is typically heard. Pretty low on production values as it was shot mostly in one interior location, a house in LA. In the end, the director should have kept Jason, fired the rest and searched for a better script with better character development before expecting the audience to care about two guys getting married.