The Wedding Year

Peter McGinn

This movie is okay as romantic comedies go. Often funny, witty, less often scatalogical — a phase in comedies I was pleased to see subside as There’s Something About Mary faded into the rear view mirror. Don’t get me wrong, I laughed as hard as I have ever laughed in parts of that classic, but I tremble when lesser films try to copy phases like body function humor. But I digress. At first the lead Mara reminded me sharply of Alicia Silverstone’s Cher in the Jane Austen modern clone Clueless. But it passed and she became uniquely herself. The supporting cast is fine. I mean, it felt at times they were told to shade their character just a bit into cliche through overacting, but they reveal themselves as real people gradually rather than stereotypes, and are given the respect of not just being the butts of low humor or insults. I saw a lot of very negative reviews elsewhere for this movie, so clearly many viewers either have higher standards than I do or at least higher expectations. I don’t go into rom-coms to have my world view forever altered. I just want to be entertained by humor and wit, and hopefully feed off some chemistry between the lead characters.