"Love is a weird thing, isn't it? It's unpredictable, sometimes confusing. But I think the most important thing is that the person you're with loves you for being you. You are enough. And you love them just for being them." - Bryan
Director: Dean Craig
Release Date: April 10th, 2020
Where Available: Netflix
Summary:
While trying to make his sister's wedding day go smoothly, Jack finds himself juggling an angry ex-girlfriend, an uninvited guest with a secret, a misplaced sleep sedative, and the girl that got away in alternate versions of the same day.
Review:
Despite the tough reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I didn't think this movie was half bad. I am a sucker for a good rom-com, and Love Wedding Repeat was a great choice for movie night.
The movie is focused around Jack (Sam Claflin) who is attending his sister Hayley's wedding. She gives him the very important task of dealing with Marc, an uninvited guest who is about to ruin the day. Along the way, he deals with his ex-girlfriend, her want-to-be fiancé, Hayley's best man, a friend in a kilt, and the woman of his dreams, all while trying to place a sleep sedative in Marc's drink. The catch is, the place cards at their table are shuffled, and the sedative is now misplaced. Will chance put the group down the right path, or will they be one chair off?
Character Review:
The movie shows us the extent of the domino effect, and how a stupid decision one person makes can change the lives of so many other people around them. These characters are the perfect example of how that domino effect doesn't always land in our favor.
Jack, played by Sam Claflin: I am a fan of Sam Claflin from his other roles in Me Before You; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; and Love, Rosie (which is one of my next reviews, so keep an eye out!), so of course I had to watch this movie. Jack works overtime. In all versions of this wedding, he clearly has his sisters happiness in mind. At the very beginning of the movie, we see Jack interacting with Dina, an American woman who is good friends with Hayley. 3 years later, he has no idea she is making an appearance at the wedding until Hayley tells him seconds before they walk down the aisle. For the rest of the film, he does everything in his power to win her over. This is the first comedic role I have seen Sam Claflin play, and he doesn't disappoint. There were a ton of corny jokes that had me falling out of my seat. Jack was naturally funny onscreen and I hope you all will watch and laugh at him too!
Hayley, played by Eleanor Tomlinson: Out of all the actors in the movie, Hayley was my least favorite. Beautiful acting by Eleanor Tomlinson, but the character just wasn't my cup of tea. I thought I liked her, and then Marc spilled her secret. Now, I won't tell you exactly what he shares, but it wasn't very good news for Hayley. Maybe I am too critical of this one flaw when I should actually be sympathizing with other aspects of her character, like how her brother Jack is now the one to walk her down the isle after their parents passed away. Even though fate put her down the wrong path at some points, they did lead to some extremely funny moments that I could not stop laughing at.
Dina, played by Olivia Munn: One of the main critiques I have been seeing about this movie is the lack of background each character is given. We don't learn much more than surface level information. Dina on the other hand was given a lot of background in a short amount of time. And by short amount of time, I mean she tells Jack everything about her in under 13 seconds. Dina almost compensates for the rest of the cast when it comes to lack of character development offscreen. Also, her relationship with Jack seems to fizz out towards the end of the movie, and that might just be what I thought, but watch and let me know.
Chaz, played by Allan Mustafa: Chaz is by far my favorite character in the whole movie. Love Wedding Repeat doesn't give him enough screen time, so I am determined to give him the attention he deserves. His main conflict is that his girlfriend Amanda, who used to date out main character Jack, is not accepting his proposal. He now targets Jack at this wedding for being the reason she keep saying no. There is this one specific scene where Chaz is somehow able to roast Jack for having the "bigger package", which he thinks is why Amanda still loves him. It is this mix of second hand embarrassment and overall cringe that makes these moments with Chaz so entertaining. Allan Mustafa is hilarious and no one will every be able to prove me wrong!
There are a lot of other characters in the movie that were amazing like Bryan (Joel Fry), Amanda (Freida Pinto), Marc (Jack Farthing), Sidney (Tim Key), and Rebecca (Aisling Bea), who all made me laugh multiple times throughout the film. Being able to see so many supporting characters tripping, falling, getting drunk, and throwing wedding cake is something you wont want to miss.
Now lets talk about location. Most of the film takes place in the stunning Vill Parisi in Frascati, Italy, and it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. I didn't know there could be so many rooms in one building, but the characters pretty much take you to every one of them. The location may also be trying to compensate for some plot holes in the movie, but nonetheless, was a great addition and made the movie very visually appealing.
In the end, I do agree with some parts of other movie reviews I have read. Even though the movie constantly made me laugh, there was plenty of opportunity for more comedic moments. When you look closer, I don't know if it was filled with enough genuinely original comedic moments to be as fast paced as it was likely wanted. There were also many other ways they could have revealed the alternate realities plot twist that would have made things more interesting.
Overall, I really did enjoy Love Wedding Repeat. The classic comedy of errors drills the point that sometimes fate chooses to be nice to us, and other times it wants us to burn. It was laughable, amusing, and so playful for all types of audiences. I did recommend this Netflix film to a lot of friends to watch over this Corona-cation, and most of them enjoyed it. Give it a watch and let me know what you think. Maybe don't look at it too critically like I did, because as soon as I took a closer look, I saw everything that could be better.
"Love is a weird thing, isn't it? It's unpredictable, sometimes confusing. But I think the most important thing is that the person you're with loves you for being you. You are enough. And you love them just for being them." - Bryan
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