Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

We found this movie on Netflix streaming movies. We like Mandy Moore, she stars here as a psychotherapist who has to try to fix up the torn relationship of her parents, seeming to want a divorce after 30 years of marriage. Overall it comes across as a bit disjointed, especially with some of the real goofy scenes, but overall is worth a watch for light entertainment.I also want to mention how disjointed the story's location seems. We learn early that the newlyweds met when she was getting her PhD at Berkeley and he was working in wine-making in the Napa Valley. But the whole movie is set and filmed in the New Orleans area and a plantation home on the Mississippi River, with no hint of how they ended up there. It had me puzzled.Mandy Moore is Ava, the optimistic therapist, her young husband is Kellan Lutz as Charlie. Ava's dad is James Brolin as Bradley, who suddenly decides he will begin to show his "Jewness", and Jane Seymour as Betty is her mother. Her sister in Jessica Szohr as Shelby, my favorite character in this movie. So mom finds out about a very brief affair Charlie had in London some 25 years earlier when they were briefly separated and now she wants a divorce. Ava has to figure out how to make them realize that they really do love each other and want to stay together.A story with many good possibilities but most of them were wasted.

I like light romance comedies, but what I found most unlikable about this particular movie was Mandy Moore's character's very one-sided personality. She's been in too many movies where her characters have been irritating, one-sided, primadonna types. It's unfortunate given that she is so attractive. It's incredibly irritating to see a protagonist force her vision of what her parent's marriage should be. It was pounded again and again, just irritating, and there was no depth to it such as her showing a painful side as to why she needs to 'fix' things (ie some sense of childhood neglect), nor did it show her maturing into someone who wants their parents to be happy in their own way, without somebody, society, etc telling them what they 'should' be happy with. Who's to say anybody can tell another what makes them happy? Can't a couple go their separate ways for a few days or months, to discover their individual selves? I was more pleased with Jane Seymour's character to experience a life, grow, do new things, travel, etc apart from being some wife-servant. At least with Mandy Moore's character, she could have had some evolution in her efforts (not just that last second fake pill overdose shenanigan to manipulate her parents), to be more altruistic instead of dominating/manipulating.The conflict with the husband regarding the manipulation was well played. Mandy's character manipulates a fake life-and-death situation to deceive his mother into not wanting to be on her own for 6 months out of her life for once. Mandy's husband called her out on this blatant manipulation and I felt that was the most honest part of the movie, how shallow, selfish the manipulation was, to judge for other people what 'should' make them happy, that it involves some stereotype instead of personal discovery/independence. The resolution of the conflict came out of nowhere. The dialogue started with Mandy's character trying to apologize, but was interrupted, as if an apology or personal change/growth was completely unnecessary. The things the husband wanted from the wife (to accept, in him) was actually nothing to do with why he was angry in the first place. She gets interrupted from her apology, he asks to be accepted, they kiss, end credits. She never got the chance to apologize and so that almost says that it was unnecessary, superficial. Messages like that are dangerous. Even with the movie being a comedy.I found Mandy's character overall annoying/irritating and given that she felt no remorse for manipulating her parents, that she had no soul. I don't think it was Ms. Moore's fault, as that has more to do with the script and directing, hinting at emotion, providing pause, reflection, etc that the director simply did not provide. These romantic comedies that have such absurd conflict only to end in even more absurd resolution are ultimately dangerous stories of fantasy that even a lighthearted audience should not see. It only can give terrible impressions in a relationship, bad example, and make relationships more painful and illusive. At least a comedy could teach the viewers something. There was no lesson of compromise, of heart-felt communication, of acceptance, of change, of growth, etc - the conflict was sudden and the resolution was even more sudden.Normally I don't mind watching rom-coms multiple times, but i don't think this is enjoyable to watch again. The characters were too irritating to enjoy. It reminds me of the irritation I felt with another Mandy Moore movie, License to Wed, where the conflict felt so incredibly contrived/out-of-nowhere and the helplessness of the characters (to augment the ridiculous conflict) just made it really annoying. I actually liked her better in Swinging With The Finkels, even though in that movie I found the shallow, apathetic and loyalty-less husband quite irritating.

LOVE, WEDDING, MARRIAGE – TRASH IT ( D ) Love, Wedding, Marriage is a disastrous addition in to the rom com movies. From beginning till the end there is no sensibility to the characters or the movie itself. Mandy Moore's approach to finding out that her parents are getting divorce was awful, from the second scene a person can easily imagine in which direction this movie going too. The director try to put some cheesy comedic scenes, dialogues and moments to make this movie enjoyable but sadly it just fire back at him. With some movie even if script is not strong, performances makes movie strong but it fell flat in that department as well. Mandy Moore delivered same boring acting chops, she showcased in previous rom com movies like "License to Wed" & "Because, I said so". Trust me if you play her scenes from all these movies, you won't be able to figure out which scenes is from which movies, she is the same annoying winning romcom wannabee queen. Mandy Moore should stick to animated version of herself like Tangled. "Love, Wedding, Marriage" is just another disastrous attempt after "License to Wed" and "Because, I said so" to become a Rom-Com queen. Kellan Lutz is good when he is shirtless because his acting is atrocious, no-wonder he has almost non-speaking part in "Twilight Saga". Jessica Szore is Gorgeous, I can never figure out why she always looked so awful in Gossip Girl? Overall, Love, Wedding, Marriage is a dreadful 90mints of romcom, you defiantly want to avoid.

When I found this film I knew what I was in for. A formulaic romantic comedy that should entertain all of the romantics out there. Although there is not originality there is a certain charm about the film that tops up a lot romantic comedies out there. This is not a film for a film buff to get something out off right when he leaves the theater. This is a film to enjoy while it lasts, and enjoy the beautiful people in this film. This is not a film that will define the way we make films. This is just pure entertainment. So if you go into this film with the exact mind set you will enjoy it like I did. But if you go into this film looking for career changing acting and an original plot then do not watch this film for it is only pure entertainment.