The Wilde Wedding

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

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.

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.

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.

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}