The Wedding Video (2014)

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm no longer young. However, I still remember how Belgian working-class people used to marry when I was a child, some four to five decades ago. The bridegroom would invest in a good suit (and then wear it to christenings, funerals,... etc. until it grew shiny with age) ; the bride would invest in a nice dress (idem) ; the couple would go first to city hall and then to church ; and afterwards there would be a fine meal for relatives, neighbours and close friends. Numerous photographs would be taken, with everyone looking solemn-but-happy, and eventually the couple would leave on honeymoon, which usually translated as two weeks on the Belgian sea-side or in the Belgian Ardennes.People lucky enough to fall into a higher income category could afford some luxuries. The honeymoon, for instance, became two or three weeks in France (saucy), Spain (exotic) or Italy (romantic). Often the bride wore a gown which screamed "wedding" to such an extent that it could be worn but once in the same lifetime ; later on, most of these gowns were lovingly preserved as an heirloom for a future daughter. Other brides would cut up their gowns in order to use the veils and laces for a baby's cot or, alternatively, for a christening dress.Most of this was sensible and, if you think upon it, pretty sweet. Decades have passed and by now, the year 2018, all kinds of weird and costly extravagances have attached themselves to the matrimonial ship, like expensive barnacles. We now find ourselves in an era in which, say, the bride's parents may very well have to pay for a full-blown children's party complete with clowns, magicians and Chinese "lion" dancers, because you wouldn't like the kids to get bored, now would you ? An acquaintance of mine discovered that her daughter, the bride, was being escorted by flower-toting children dressed as Puss-in-boots, Cinderella and Batgirl. Another acquaintance caused a disaster by accidentally bumping into one of the five (5) wedding cakes provided for her niece's wedding. It provoked scenes of anguish and dismay worthy of "Le radeau de la Méduse". If you live in a country stricken with the same kind of madness - and I greatly fear that this madness has infected all of the developed world - you could do worse than have a look at "The wedding video". It contains a lot of satirical barbs aimed at the wedding industry (or is it wedding ideology ?) and its adherents. In a more general sense the movie also mocks those who continually aspire to more - more money, more status, more titles. Which normal person would like to go and live in a stately home hung with absurd hunting trophies ? (Watch out for the joke with one of the trophies.)With regard to these aspects "The wedding video" certainly works : there are good jokes and gags to enjoy. It becomes less satisfying where and when it turns into a romcom. The various emotions felt by the three protagonists do not ring all that true, individually or collectively, and the conclusion is so facile that it insults the intelligence of the viewer. Try this stuff in real life, as opposed to a movie, and you will cause a genuine tragedy, possibly even the kind of tragedy which will end up before a criminal court.Still, the movie towers like a Colossus over the bridal romcom-nonsense churned out routinely by the USA, most of which, in my humble opinion, belongs somewhere in the one-to-three-star territory.

Rufus Hound plays the bohemian of the two brothers in this comedy. He travels home six weeks before his brothers wedding and has a surprise for him, he's going to video the events before the wedding to give to him as a wedding gift.What Hound doesn't know is that his brother is getting married to a girl at school who was a tear away and a pretty wild child back then. She is now prim and proper and very wealthy thanks to her mothers marriage.The thing is, the more Hound spends time with her, the more his feelings grow for her...I like Hound. When he's in it, he's the best thing about the awful Celebrity Juice, and he's quite funny. The same thing goes for Webb. He's great in Peep Show and HIGNFY, so this should have been a throwaway romp with a lot of laughs.It isn't, and it doesn't provide any laughs. And. The main reason? Because everyone is so nice and the only reason what Punch and Hound grow feelings for each other is because half of the time they are together they are drunk.The supporting cast are your bunch of perfunctory middle class English people you see in every sitcom, the neurotic wedding planner, the comedy vicar, the wannabe posh parents, and the hilarious grandmother played by someone famous.All here present and bland.But Lucy Punch is brilliant as usual and is the best thing here, and it appears that everyone is put into the shade when she's on screen.It's predictable, and we have the cringeworthy scenes, that are not so anymore, because you can see them coming from a mile off.To be honest, the trailers looked good, but don't give in for the rom com thing, its really awfully bland...

Those reviewers that have given this movie more than 3 have seen a different movie than myself. I have never seen worse acting in a movie that actors where paid to be in. A high school movie project has better actors.Direction...none. Cinematography..very bad. Acting..as bad. Story line..a sleeping tablet has less effect.Give this tripe a very wide miss. Total waste of time and money, how it was funded is quite beyond me. If I could give this movie no stars I would.There is absolutely nothing about this movie that is entertaining, or funny. No normal person could sit through this rubbish and come away feeling good. Seriously, it made me angry that films like this still hit the screen.I WANT A REFUND!!

With a shooting style of a poor documentary and an annoying voice over from Hound from the outset I was hoping that things would improve. But this is a film so poor that it isn't even listed on Flixster. It is truly awful. The casting is mismatched. The script is slow, dull and delivered like an over the top sketch show. The acting skills of the cast is barely taxed as they plod from one set piece to the next with little continuity.Then it turns into a misplaced romantic comedy with delusions of grandeur. Which is when half the audience lost the will to live and walked out.First time I have ever walked out of a film. It was that bad.