Shut Up and Sing

Bruce Leddy tried his best giving the budget to make 'Shut Up And Sing' aka 'The Wedding Weekend'.

The problem lies in the plot, Some moments are interesting, but usually bland.

A group of guys who sang together in a college a Capella group reunite 15 years later to perform at a friend's wedding and discover how their lives have progressed -- and in some cases regressed -- since their college heyday, an idea that seems dated and the lack of face-value, disappoints all the way.

Acting wise: Molly Shannon is the only actor who does her part well, while all the others try hard, though some manage.

on the whole 'Shut Up And Sing' isn't what you expect.

Actually a great movie, pretty fun and entertaining. They manage to squeeze some good mileage out of a tried and tested formula, with some very nice performances. Rosemarie DeWitt is especially fun to watch, and Molly Shannon's shtick mostly refreshing, while Liz Stauber manages to fill a small role with unexpectedly biting, dry wit. The men are all fine too, and their camaraderie feels fresh and real. The dialogues are loving crafted and witty, but manage to avoid being annoyingly clever. At the end I was perhaps missing a hint of a wider perspective, or deeper insight, into some of the themes previously touched upon. The story stayed firmly in romantic comedy territory, though, but it didn't diminish the pleasure of watching this film.

Quasi-musical that will largely appeal to white, affluent, male New Yorkers. Several old college buddies who used to sing a capella reunite for a pal's wedding in the Hamptons (which right there tells you something about the target audience). Some time has passed since they last saw each other. Some have matured and changed, some have not. The cast is mostly appealing, if way too thin and good-looking (so much so that you might think you're watching a reunion of a group of gay friends). The musical interludes are the best parts of the film, by far. Some of the dialog (including a "seize-the-moment" speech by one of the way-too-thin and good-looking wives) and situations (finding a hooker for a divorced buddy) are cringe-inducing. Hey, but this is a low-budget indie, after all. The biggest name in the cast is ex-SNL member Molly Shannon, who plays a boisterous, occasionally crude wife whose schlemiel of a husband couldn't be any more different. Some of you may recognize Mark Feuerstein, who starred in a TV show called ROYAL PAINS and is presently appearing in a theatrical release, KNUCKLHEAD. Except for Shannon, the cast looks like it was put together from Broadway plays and TV soap operas. No fatties or uglies allowed, thank you very much. Oh, for the hetero guys who catch this, keep an eye out for Elsa the 23-year-old Swedish nanny. Also way too thin, but she does love sex.

Watchable, but OK to watch once and forget about. While the acting was decent, the premise was just not believable or worth caring about. Would you really fly across the country to attend/perform at the wedding of a man you loathe? The stock 'jerky right wing guy' character's "life-changing event" was so out of left field and then seemingly an afterthought :10 later. I can't figure out to whom this story was supposed to appeal. Too man-centric to appeal to women, too touchy-feeley whiny to appeal to most men. My only guess is "married closeted gay men," a very small demographic, which could go towards explaining the lack of commercial success. Molly Shannon was fun, the cast were decent eye candy, and the singing, though presumably overdubbed, was excellent. Fellas, watch it w/ your female significant-other to appease her after 3 or 4 nights of heavy doses of sports on the tube.

I never review movies, but this movie got on my nerves so bad, I felt compelled to write about it. You may think me unfair to rate a movie so harshly after only seeing 20 minutes of it, but that was all it took to see that the dialog was horrendous (i.e. pretentious, annoying, irritating and unbelievable.) I wonder if the screenwriter was purposely making the characters douche bags, or if he thought he was making them hip and cool. The acting was not great, but it may, again, be the fault of the script. I would never be friends with people like this, and therefore, had no absolutely no interest in investing myself in their lives for one more minute.