The Wedding Pact (2014)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

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.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I think we all remember what our reaction was at the news that Haylie Duff would be starring in a romantic comedy opposite the multifaceted Chris Soldevilla: who the %$#! is Chris Soldevilla? All joking aside, of course we remember him from his stellar performance in the 2000 classic "Coyote Ugly" and eagerly anticipated his performance as Mitch in this film. We were not disappointed. Through forceful performances like this movie, Soldevilla has quietly built a reputation as a major player in the comedy genre, even as he has expanded his range in drama through such vehicles as "7 Minutes" (2014). We all eagerly anticipate future entries in the Soldevilla oeuvre.But as flawless and nuanced as Soldevilla is in "The Wedding Pact," the real acting tour de force in this film comes from Haylie Duff. We all see in Duff the depth and range of a young Meryl Streep and the wit and witticisms of a youthful Joan Blondell. She doesn't disappoint in this outing. As Elizabeth, Duff has solidified her position as the grand dame of romantic comedies, rivaling the comedic talents of such actresses as Carole Lombard and Edna Purviance.And who can forget Matt Berman, the wunderkind writer/producer who made this all possible. We all know him from the 2000 masterpiece "F.A.R.T.: The Movie," which the AMPAS shocking passed over in its nominations for a Best Director Oscar. Sam Mendes got lucky with "American Beauty" that year and we all know it. Travesties aside, the Academy will simply not be able to look the other way at Berman's brilliance in "The Wedding Pact" and maintain itself as a legitimate organization. One cannot find a more scrumptrulescent outing than "The Wedding Pact." Watch and be amazed; talent like this doesn't come along often.

Choosing the marriage partner is something that can tell a lot about a person. It would be best to get it all, a warm and generous personality, strong and honest character, loyalty, impressive intellect, a knock-out appearance, sophisticated mannerism and last, tolerable age difference, and last, but sadly not the least, financial security. The trouble is that it is winning a jack pot is near impossible most of the time. What happens when one needs to compromise? Well, like thousands of other pictures, this one deals with exactly that.Now about the movie itself. The storyline is highly predictable, the characters are shallow and the parody on real life does not really work in this movie. So, the burning questions would be why bother watching it? If you feel mentally and physically exhausted, but do not feel like sleeping or surfing the net for latest gossip, this movie could do. Otherwise, it is a total waste of time. This could be said about most rom-coms though.

I went into this movie with some high expectations and was let down. I wasn't expecting a smash hit , maybe just a low key good movie. From the first scene I was confused. I was trying to figure out of they went to a bad community college together or what. One good thing is that I did get attached to the main two characters early in the movie, they were good actors and had a strong chemistry within the two of them. The whole movie was being worked off a horrible script with clichés for days, unrealistic supporting characters with generic and corny personalities and a horrible dialog all togetherThe movie would have had potential if the script writer and the director weren't so bad. Halie Duff and Chris Soldevilla did a great job, but without them this movie would have been a complete waste of my time.

At the time of this writing, there is one other review giving the movie 10/10. Yikes! What we have here is a very light rom-com with good actors, a lot of clichés and some significant improbabilities in the story. However, it is inoffensive, it has high production values and looks very good, and there are a few chuckles along the way. You won't get any spoilers from me, but we all know how this will turn out.If you go in expecting anything more than harmless light entertainment, you will be very disappointed. If, however, you are looking for 90 minutes of easy fluff that you could watch with your niece and your Gran, you are in business. Special commendation to Buddy the dog, played skillfully by Hooligan the dog.