Get this! Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams all piled into one movie. About a wedding. Seriously decent cast! Opening scene involving Susan Sarandon removing her knickers and Bobby De Niro attempting to be a cunning linguist. Good start. In walks Diane Keaton. Great. Rest of cast introduced, sort of, even though it’s hard to figure out whos who. And we’re off and rolling. Well actually rolling is too strong a word. Meandering is more suitable.
And man does The Big Wedding meander around the place. Not really in a bad way, but certainly not in a good way either. And while that makes no sense (look, my brain is fried) what it achieves in 89 minutes, could have easily been done in 29 minutes. Essentially a story about a slightly dysfunctional family, where the parents are divorced who end up pretending they're still married. And whys that I hear you cry? Well, its for the sake of their adopted sons birth mother, who views divorce as a sin! Crazy isn’t it? This is an actual plot to a movie. But after Paul Blart Mall Cop, we just live with these things I guess.
While there is nothing memorable or even remotely engaging about The Big Wedding, in a strange way, its cast of characters are rather likeable and on occasion bring one or two little giggles. Nobody is breaking a sweat here performance wise though. And while all are fine, accomplished actors don’t expect much. Although De Niro turns on a performance for about 2 seconds towards the end, thats about it. This looked like an easy gig for all involved, and on one side of the coin, good actors can make this kinda thing look easy. However, everybody dialled this one in on long distance. All that said, they are the only thing holding the ridiculously stupid plot together.
The Big Wedding is obviously pitching itself at older audiences, with a “mature” cast and it may well float some of the pensioners boats. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much overall, on any level. Its cast of characters make it just about endurable, and whiles its not as embarrassing as your drunk, bridesmaid groping uncle*, its not too far off either. If you absolutely positively have to go the cinema, and you’ve seen everything else, at least twice, this will do. Other wise RSVP that you can’t go!
*Apologies to any drunk, bridesmaid groping uncles! But seriously!!!
