Minute Matrimony

If you're a fan of Mel Brooks, you'll probably appreciate this film--especially the Jewish/Black humor of it. There are some really funny moments as it sends up weddings, divorces, and different kinds of intermarriage via a drive-thru format. It seemed to me that it was more about the concept and the jokes than a dramatic quest type of storyline. On the Minute Matrimony DVD there's also a great making-of video that actually did have a storyline--that of the filmmaker and his crew making a successful short film on the cheap. It showed how much fun the actors were having even as they played around with racial stereotypes, etc. The making-of video was also interesting from the point of view of understanding how hard it is to make a low budget film look and feel like a big budget film. It gave me an understanding of the film-making process that I didn't have before. With all this and some more stuff on the DVD, I thought it was quite worthwhile.

I'm sorry, but I really didn't like this film. I thought it was horribly sophomoric and contrived. I know the director wanted to be 'extreme' with the stereotypes, but I feel that in doing so he really set his standards too low. Put another way: going with old, obvious stereotypes is too easy. Why not make a smarter, wittier comedy that really says something about our society and its 'need' to get married too quickly. Instead of just listing a slew of in-your-face cliches, why not try to raise the bar?

Anyhow, the film was flashy and technically speaking, it was quite nice. But I was looking for substance over visuals - art over craft.

I think that filmmakers should maybe take a step back from all this postmodern-one-foot-out-the-door-once-removed-ironic filmmaking. Instead of falling back on the "it's just a joke, don't take it seriously" excuse, why not be serious? That's not to say that people should not be making comedies. But when they do - and they should - how about taking more time and putting a little more effort into it?

I found myself really wanting to laugh with this film. It has an interesting premise and infinite possibilities as to where it can go. I also found myself cringing at where the filmmaker chose to stop trying.

I saw the film at the awards, and I don't understand why it won. I think the filmmakers put in a lot of hard work, but the storytelling is mundane. There are plenty of other worthy films out there. Why this one? the film has nothing important to say about society, and it seems sort of aimless. i was disappointed by it.