The Big Wedding (2013, Dir. Justin Zackham, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***

Starring: Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl

 

Alejandro (Ben Barnes) is getting married to Missy (Amanda Seyfried) and although the impending nuptials seem to be well in hand, a pretty big problem presents itself. Alejandro was adopted as baby from Columbia into an American family. His adoptive parents Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton) divorced with Don now in a committed relationship with another woman (Susan Sarandon). With Alejandro’s biological, and devoutly Catholic, mother (Patricia Rae) coming to the wedding will the family be able to hold up to a perfect picture of Catholic morality?

 

A remake of Mon Frère Se Marie (My Brother Is Getting Married) (2006), a French/Swiss film, The Big Wedding reappropriates the film for an American setting and ends up with rather mixed results. The Big Wedding is a film with an identity crisis. On the one hand, it wants to be a fluffy, happy-go-lucky airy-fairy rom-com. On the other hand, it’s trying to be kinkier, more adult and generally more subversive than most mainstream American romantic-comedies. On the one hand, there’s the central idea of the wedding, on the other hand there’s the drama involving the older members of the film’s cast which eventually takes prominence (even the smaller subplots involving Topher Grace and Katherine Heigl are often given more of a focus than the wedding). Inevitably, it drags the film into  a formless mush, clearly wanting to be a good old farce, but lacking the energy, focus and definitely finesse to do so. That being said, the dialogue is, at times, amusing (although still not very strong) and the high calibre and abilities of the cast lend the film some weight on their own merits (the film is at its best when De Niro and Heigl are given more serious scenes about their father/daughter relationship, but Robin Williams is sorely underused both as a comedic presence and a fine dramatic actor). The Big Wedding is not a disaster but considering the great cast that involves two actors from The Godfather: Part II (1974), it is a disappointment.