The Wilde Wedding

Some great talent in this film, beginning, at the top, with Glenn Close. Unfortunately, the plot hangs on John Malkovich, and, for me, there was no reason to get behind a positive outcome that includes his character. Back to the great cast, though, the young cast were superb (Bridgette Lundy-Paine and Grace Van Patten) with Minnie Driver and Patrick Stewart showing off their comedic chops. The premise was predictable (no matter how much I yelled at the screen, "No, not Malkovich!") but most of the time, the characters were drawn to be unappealing, vapid and uninteresting. So, all thing considered, I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Romantic Comedy}

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.

It's another Hollywood movie about the blessed crowd. Too talented, too rich, too burdened with too much. A trauma and resolution after too much sex, too much booze, too much of drugs. A masturbatory achievement dream for the rest of us to admire. To bad.

I read some of the previous reviews of this movie but - being a fan of the three stars - my husband and I decided to watch it last evening anyway. It was a shame that the basic premise (former movie star Eve/Glenn getting married for 4th time to writer Harold/Patrick while 1st husband Laurence/John is present as a friend of his ex-wife). Nice little premise that moves predictably through the script.

However, at least two of Eve's and Laurence's 3 adult son's plus their significant others and children and one of Harold's 2 adult daughters could have been eliminated from the picture all together as contributing nothing to the main plot but just adding to the movie's (and this viewer's) confusion.

Someone needed to take a red pen to this script before it began filming so that the focus would be where it belonged - on exploring the complicated relationship of Eve/Harold/Laurence and let these powerful stars shine instead of being relegated to bemused bystanders within their own storyline.