Un grand mariage

I don't even know where to start on how absolutely bad this movie is.

I typically only write reviews when a movie is unexpectedly great, or moving in one way or another. But I felt compelled to write a review for this movie, if nothing else than to send a message to Hollywood that viewers are actually smarter then they give us credit.

You would think with a movie that features not one, not two, not three but four or more major actors would at least be tolerable. Wrong. Did I miss something, are actors just like the rest of us, living from paycheck to paycheck, barely making end's meet? That's the only excuse that would "maybe" allow me to accept why some of these people took these roles. Or perhaps there was an old "debt" that needed to be repaid to a director or studio? There must be some excuse, because anybody with any kind of preservation for their career would have passed. Robert (De Niro), are you serious? I watched you accept a lifetime achievement award a year or two ago and you went on and on about all the crappy roles you've accepted in recent years (including "Little Fockers", which by the way is head and shoulders about this movie) - and yet here you are again. ??? Please don't tell me YOU need a paycheck too?

Bottom line: I would not be completely surprised if this movie wasn't written on the back of a bar napkin at some cheesy off the road place over the period of a couple hours. Character development is extremely shallow and inconsistent and story cohesion and development is about non-existent.

Do yourself a favor and watch something else. Anything.

My wife suggested we go see this movie, after all, you have to work really hard to spoil something with De Niro, Keaton and Robin Williams in it, right?

Well, apparently not. Just throw together a completely meaningless plot, fill it with a couple awkward sexual scenes, remove any hint of real feeling or nuance, and then fill what's left with numerous clichés that are worthy of a B porno flick - and you will get some idea of what "The Big Wedding" is like.

It's another one in the long and sadly ever-growing line of Hollywood fiascoes, built on the premise that it's enough to throw together a bunch of star actors to get a blockbuster. It's not. The feeling you get is that the film's budget was spent on securing the big hitters, and then a couple of hundred bucks that were left were given to some sex-obsessed teenager in high school, to write the plot.

As a result, this movie which claims to be a comedy, is a farce, a farce of what a comedy should be. After watching for a little over an hour, I left without finishing it. It was super boring, predictable and entirely unimpressive. Don't waste your time watching this grotesque concoction of nothing.

Over all the movie was a bit of a disappointment even though I've been looking forward to seeing it for quite some time (Not for the big A- list case either), Rather I was looking forward to seeing the Talents of Ben Barnes back on the big screen. I wasn't disappointed in that regard. His portrayal of Alejandro was brilliant, his American accent was exact and his Spanish was impressive as well. I thought Al and Missy were adorable, but the movie itself had way too much going on. Just when you thought the story line couldn't get any crazier something stupider happened and by the end it was hard to keep everything that was going on straight. It had endearing and sweet family moments that were really it's only saving grace. If you had cut out half the random story lines and the random awkward sexual parts that...for the record did not add to the plot line, it would have been a great movie but as usual a potentially good film is ruined with crude comedy. That being said some of the story lines that had been supplemented by crude comedy were amusing story lines but were sort of ruined.

"The Big Wedding" seems to be following in the footsteps of the recent Hollywood romantic comedies – gather as many big name stars as you can and put them all in a romantic comedy storyline. It's the best of the bunch, even though that's not saying anything at all. It's also based on a French film "Mon frère se marie", and that's not really saying all that much either.

Any description of the plot is just going to read as a listing of who's who of Hollywood. But let's do it anyways: We have the patriarch and matriarchs (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon); we have the up-and-comers excited for their big day (Ben Barnes and Amanda Seyfried); and then we have the middle siblings who have had their time in the spotlight and are starting to fade away (Topher Grace and Katherine Heigl).

The wedding revolves around lies (obviously) and religion - with Robin Williams as the drunken Catholic priest. And it also includes lots and lots of sex jokes. The surprising thing that audiences are taking away from this film, especially in spite of the decidedly negative critics' responses, is that it is hilarious. Fans of the film will find themselves laughing from beginning to end. But to give you fair warning, all of the jokes are sexually-based, and I mean all of them.

Laughing at the Catholic stigma of don't have sex but if you do, don't be safe; laughing at people who have too much sex; laughing at people who don't have sex; and worse of all, laughing at divorced and married couples who have sex with one another. While some of the jokes were funny, they're also responsible for creating the uneasy dynamic amongst the characters – all of whom are family (or, at least, are about to become in-laws). At times the film crosses the line from funny dysfunctional family to repulsive dysfunctional family.

The one line that "The Big Wedding" straddles well is that between comedy and drama. The film is effective when it moves from funny jokes to touching family honesty and back to some more funny jokes. The story lines are very predictable, and sometimes the jokes are too simple and too wrong, but it tries to add in the right amount of drama, and ultimately, it should be entertaining to fans of the genre.

I do not understand the rating of 5.4 (at the time of writing) nor the very poor review of one of the contributors. My partner and I saw this film last night and found it one of the funniest films in years. And, judging by the laughter, most of the audience agree. Bear in mind that for a majority of the audience English is not their first language either.

A word of caution for prudes. There are three scenes of a highly sexual nature that are extremely funny for those who are not.

This is another in the growing trend of using mature actors and it is good to see Diane Keaton and Susan Sarendon in starring roles where some years back they would have disappeared from our screens. Robert De Niro is excellent, as ever and Robin Williams in the smaller part of the quartet of Oscar winners, made this a foursome of very funny performances.

The rest of the cast also turned in fine performances and I think they must have had lots of fun making the film. We go to the cinema for one reason only - to be entertained. I heard no complaints from the rest of the audience as we left. No Oscar winners here but high marks for fun.

The scenery is also quite magnificent.