LOVE, WEDDINGS AND OTHER DISASTERS
US, 2020, 96 minutes, Colour.
Diane Keaton, Jeremy Irons, Maggie Grace, Diego Boneta, Andrew Bachelor, Dennis Dugan, Jesse Mc Cartney, Veronica Ferres, Elle King, Andy Goldenberg.
Directed by Dennis Dugan.
Unless the screenplay is the story of the Titanic or something similar, filmmakers should be wary about including the word disaster in the film title. Critics will be sure to take it up and use it against the film. Which they have with this one. There are quite a lot of disasters, slapstick, pratfalls, literal knockabout, and a spectacular opening of skydiving and the divers landing in the middle of an outdoor wedding, with the leading lady, Jessie, the skydiver who dropped her nervous boyfriend, television anchor, from the sky into a pool, earning the nickname The Wedding Crasher, instantly on social media. Perhaps The Wedding Crasher could have been the title for this film.
Whether you enjoy the film will very much depend on your sense of humour. Best to have a very broad, undemanding sense of humour. The screenplay sounds like Dennis Dugan (director of a number of Adam Sandler comedies and appearing in them), director, writer, co-producer, appearing as a reality show television compere, invited his colleagues to a meeting where they put forth a whole range of possible situations and some corny dialogue – and then he decided that that would be enough, that all will be included, a whole conglomeration, so to speak. And, it plays at that level.
Dugan himself to scenes, sending up comperes wine glass, in hand, of trashy reality shows – this one called Couple Crash with bizarre couples (Rabbi and Muslim, dwarf and tall woman…) Chained together, audience voting as to who was the most successful – prizemoney $1 million!
Jessie is the central character of the film, beginning a career in wedding planning. She is played by Maggie Grace, the most attractive character in the film. She encounters a rather supercilious planner, Lawrence, played by Jeremy irons, a widower, promised a blind date (turns out to be literal, Diane Keaton playing vision impaired, a bit like Annie Hall in her 70s). Jessie also is attracted to a band player, Mack (Diego Bonita) who is being stood up by his close friend, breaking up the band. Thankfully, throughout the film, there is a street singer playing her guitar, ready to take up the challenge of the wedding reception.
And then, there is Captain Richie (Andrew Bachelor playing as if he were auditioning, successfully, to be one of the Wayan brothers), with his boat-bus, tours of Boston, attracted to a young woman with a slipper tattoo on her neck, his desperate going on a Cinderella quest!
One question arises: what are Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons doing in this kind of film (something which they might have been asking of themselves).
So, a piece of semi-raucous American froth, which might be described as an undemanding comedy.
1. The title? The ingredients? The range of disasters? Pratfalls, slapstick, situations? Literal knockabout?
2. American comedy? Dialogue, situations, parody?
3. The theme of love, Jessie and the opening and the skydiving? Jesse and Mack? Captain Richie and the Cinderella theme? Lawrence and Sara? Robert and the preparation for the marriage, his wife and enthusiasm? The preparations for the wedding, the problems, everybody arriving, the chamber music, the band, everybody celebrating?
4. Disasters, the skydiving, the crash and disruption of the wedding, Sara, vision impaired, the crashing of the centrepiece, with Lawrence, rearranging her room, her fall…? The band, the breakup? The television show, the range of couples, their disasters? The Mafia interventions? The almost disaster of the wedding and the reception?
5. The situations, familiar, conventional, the level of dialogue and wit?
6. The television show, Dennis Dugan as the compere, with the wine glass, the couples, the audience, chained together? The Rabbi and the Muslim, the tall woman and the dwarf, the black woman and the cross-dressing man (care of the Mafia)?
7. Robert, standing for mayor, his fiancee, the discussions about the wedding, the severity of his political adviser? Discussions with Jessie? With Lawrence? The situation with his brother, the photo opportunity, his going on the television competition, being followed continually by the camera crew who were “not there�? The relationship with Svetlana, finding out the truth about her, exotic dancer, the club, the Mafia man in the night, the Mafia connections? The threat to kill? Interested in the million-dollar prize? Their interventions?
8. Captain Richie, the boat, extrovert, the clients, the spiel, attracted to the young woman, the title of the slipper, his searching for her, the women with the tattoos arriving, the boat and helping Robert and crew to get to the wedding? His going to the reception, seeing the waitress?
9. The singer in the street, the lyrics of her songs, the other guitarist? The invitation to come to the wedding, all the others connecting? Playing, Celebration?
10. The band, Lennie and the girlfriend, the breakup, the attraction to Jessie? Happy at the wedding?
11. Lawrence, Jeremy Irons’ style, the supercilious Englishman, the wedding preparations, meticulous with layout, with the staff? His friends and the blind date, Sara arriving, literally vision impaired, crashing the centrepiece? The promise of the phone call, his not ringing, her arriving, the bond between them, the picnic lunch, the night together, his rearranging the furniture and her fall, her coming to attack him, his apologising, the blindfold, the tour through the city blindfold? And a happy ending?
12. The severity of the film critics on this film?
