Mariage express

This is a pleasant little surprise of a movie, I had no real interest in seeing this as it just looked like an 'American Pie' rip off, with Jason Biggs playing Jim from 'American Pie'.

The movie stars Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher as two strangers who decide to get married on a whim. So they set off to meet each other's parents to share the good news.

So far, this sounds like a series of fairly predictable scenes. But they're redeemed by the writing and acting. There are some charming moments an some laugh out loud moments

The sequences involving the two sets of parents provide the heart of the movie, they strike just the right balance between affection and humour.

There were a lot of scenes I liked, but the movie seemed too tailored to Biggs' American Pie image.

Stand out performers for me were Ebon Moss Bachrach, Joe Pantoliano, Joanna Gleason, Edward Herrmann, Margo Martindale and the gorgeous Isla Fisher who I think deserves to be getting better offers than she seems to be.

I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival the other night and I have to say it was pretty funny. Different than I expected, and not really similar to Stella. Jason Biggs is exactly the character you expect him to be from his previous films, but he does it well. The rest of the cast is solid and Isla Fisher from the Wedding Crashers shows she can be a pretty good comic female lead. All the peripheral characters add something, especially the parents of Biggs and Fisher.

That being said, most of the film is pretty predictable and nothing terribly new is done here, but if you just want to sit back and laugh it does the job. Worth seeing.

Wedding Daze was a movie I wasn't sure what to expect over, I wasn't really sure if this movie was going to be an American Pie rip off, or a cheesy romantic comedy that would have me throwing up for half the movie at the sheer horror of it all. My hopes were strictly average for the movie, I thought it might be a funny little movie, but by tomorrow I wouldn't remember it at all. Added to that my hopes wren't raised when it turned out the movie was only showing in a run down little screen in my cinema, while Pirates of the Caribbean took up nearly every other screen in the cinema. Anyway while watching Wedding Daze, and about an hour in I suddenly realised I was really enjoying the movie. Actually more than that, I was loving the movie! Shortly after that the movie hit a little dip and made my opinion lower a bit, but by the end I realised I had seen a movie that genuinely entertained me and I'm highly unlikely to forget it for a long time. The movie is your typical rom-com, and of course as tradition with rom-coms it has to have its overly sentimental moments dropped here and there. But the movie also contains the sexual humour from movies such as American Pie. The two blend perfectly and leaves the movie feeling fresh and funny. The lead characters played by Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher are brilliant. The pair have great chemistry, and one of the scenes between the pair, and involving tooth paste had me crying for about five minutes afterwards. I won't spoil the scene but it is just one of many great moments to be found in this surprisingly funny little movie.

As I've just said the lead pair are brilliant. I have never been the biggest fan of Jason Biggs. He was pretty good in American Pie, but after that movie I always felt he was recycling the same role over and over again. In this movie he has moments when he's essentially playing the same character as from American Pie, but thankfully his character does have notable changes along the way. The opening scene with him is very well performed and its a truly funny set piece, it was also surprising as well. Isla Fisher is one of the actresses who is very much upcoming in terms of popularity. Wedding Crashers obviously made her noticeable, and in her first leading role she does a great job. I think she might also be a great dramatic actress given the right material, but until that time comedy suits her just fine. What surprised me in Wedding Dze was the fact that nearly all the supporting cast worked very well. A couple start to grate very much after a while, especially Katue's friend Matador, who while being funny at first ends up just being plain odd by the end. The pairs parents are probably the best supporting characters. Katie's mum and dad, played by Joanna Gleason and Jon Pantoliano are brilliant, Pantoliano makes a brilliant character and his scenes towards the end are pure genius. Anderson's sex crazed parents are also welcome additions, the scene we meet them is another laugh out loud moment involving cream, its odd, sick and nasty, but brilliant all the same.

The comedy of Wedding Dze ranges from two sorts, the subtle, clever dialogue kind, and the other in your face sex antics kind. Usually sex jokes in a movie start to get very irritating after a while, sure they're funny at first but after you've had five jokes on ejaculation you start to roll your eyes. Thankfully the sex jokes are never constantly in your face in this movie. The scene that had me laughing most isn't really a sex joke at all, its not really a dialogue one either but its still brilliant. But this movie is not all about the comedy, and there are genuinely touching moments. Anderson's best friend has a very well written moment where he tells Katie not to hurt him, its small, its not funny, but for some reason its very well written and you can't help but be a bit touched by it. The movie has great pieces of humour and it very rarely misses, only Katie's friend Matador is the weak link for comedy, as I've said he's too odd to be really funny.

So what are the weaknesses of the movie? Well like all rom-coms it loves a good but of sentimentality, and apart from the good scenes that aren't funny, it does feel a bit forced at times. The ending is also as predictable as can be, I already knew the ending before the film began, and it didn't disappoint. Generally the comedy hits, but some stuff misses. But all in all its still a very funny and well written movie that I do highly recommend for people. Its a 9/10 movie, and I genuinely hope this gets a broader release over the world. I'm amazed to see it isn't actually out in America yet, nice to see us Brits get it first.

Jason Biggs (American Pie) stars as Anderson, a depressed guy who lost his girlfriend by proposing to her. Pushed by his friend, he asks a random waitress to marry him, which she says yes.

The idea of this romantic comedy is there. I like the idea of spontaneity but the film lacks humour.

Jason Biggs is funny in other films, as is Isla Fisher (Wedding crashers) but this film lacks effort and purpose. It's as if there's no point.

Following many conventions of the genre, the film uses physical humour and some really cheesy lines to portray comedy, which is a shame because from the beginning it appeared to be heading somewhere.

Its flat, its predictable and repetitive and overall, just boring and familiar.

I don't like films which follow patterns and so the ending is scant consolation for that as it is slightly different from other romantic comedies.

The acting is average; none of the cast seemed too bothered to put their true potential into the characters.

At the end of the day it is a light hearted film which is sweet in its own way. The humour isn't brilliant, like the acting but the idea and the ending are quite interesting.

Anderson (Jason Biggs) is in love with love. He goes all out dressed as cupid to propose to girlfriend Vanessa in a restaurant. She is so shocked that she dies from a heart attack. He's left as a pathetic mess who can't get over Vanessa. His friend Ted tries to get him to try harder and he asks waitress Katie (Isla Fisher) to marry him. Katie's life isn't going so well. She's in a dead end job. Her father is in jail. Her boyfriend proposes and she can't take it. In exasperation, she accepts Anderson's proposal. It's a ridiculous idea at first, but after a lot of misadventures, they may have stumbled onto something real.

The setup is really awkward. Knowing Michael Ian Black's brand of comedy, it's not surprising that he goes so dark so soon. Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher are two of the most likable and funniest comedic actors around. They combine to have some really funny moments. Chris Diamantopoulos is ridiculous and funny. This is a case of really funny people with some really inappropriate jokes trying very hard with less than expert directions and editing.