The Wedding Chapel (2013)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Blistering performances.

This is a very by-the-numbers kind of film one would expect to see on the Hallmark channel. It's quite good, by those standards...but it isn't particularly great, either. It's the sort of thing that will almost certainly charm you if you like films that are "charming" but little else.The plot is dramatic enough to provide legitimate motivation--the heroine travels to her childhood town with her mother in order to preserve a piece of her past (and, it's implied, to have some quality time with her mother in order to reconcile some quirky differences between them). Her mother, meanwhile, is trying to push her past to the side and forget.Speaking of the mother: She is played, of course, by none other than the magnificent Shelley Long, the legendary Diane of "Cheers" fame. Needless to say, it's been several decades since she's done anything "big" (unless you count her recurring secondary character in "Modern Family")...and it kinda shows. Shelley is a great actress--one of the most underrated in Hollywood history. (Hollywood did her a big disservice by basically forgetting about her in the 1990s.) And yet, here she seems to be "phoning it in" a bit--and it often sounds like she's yawning her lines a little. Fortunately, her acting picks up in the last third of the film (once her character reconciles with her former love).The other actors do their roles, and do them well. The heroine and the lawyer are excellent, and their chemistry feels solid.My biggest complaint, actually, is the music. Aside from the all-too-common tendency of TV-movies and small-scale indie films to rely on mellow acoustic guitars (which frankly only works for me when the movie involves fishing or some other use of a lake or river or what-have-you), for all the talk about Shelley's character being a child of the '60s, I (an "oldies" aficionado) certainly never recognized any of the songs being played in the flashbacks, or played when she's dancing to the music. (And sadly, Shelley dancing in this movie does NOT have the same charm of her dancing in Troop Beverly Hills. She's one of my favorite actresses of all time...and I'm sorry to say I *cringed* a bit in the "dancing" sequences, here.)Perhaps it's a minor nit, but--the girl in the flashbacks doesn't look too much like Shelley way back when. Now, I LOVE the blink-and-you'll-miss-it use, early in the movie, of a photo of Shelley in her younger years...but it makes the issue of the flashback actress even more apparent.In the end, it's an okay movie. It thankfully avoids the sappy, maudlin melodrama this sort of film is notorious for. Still, it's no "classic"--it's the kind of film to watch once, smile, and forget about.

On the day that Sarah (Emmanuelle Vaugier) hosts a not-so-successful showing of her latest oil paintings, this beautiful young woman is also dumped by her boyfriend! In truth, Sarah hasn't made enough time for the relationship, although the rejection stings. Therefore, she heads to her mother, Jeanie's (Shelley Long) house for comfort. Yet, Mom is bothersome, too. Sarah is neat and organized while Jeanie hasn't been the same since becoming a widow. The older woman's home is messy and shows signs of one neglected hobby, like learning the ukulele, after another. In a heap of mail, Sarah is aghast to learn that her grandmother's house is in the process of being sold to make way for a large development in a quiet little village. No, no, it can't happen, cries Sarah. The two ladies waltz off to the nearby town, where they find a city councilperson and lawyer, Roger (Mark Devlin). His advice is that they only way to stop the process now is to find something historical about a small chapel that sits near grandma's house and is part of the land purchased. Two more things occur. Sarah and Roger like the looks of each other, as singles, but spar frequently at various encounters. Then, amazingly, Jeanie is startled to learn that a former beau she thought was killed in Vietnam is ALIVE and living in her hometown, too. He, like her, is widowed. Will there be romance in the air AND will the beloved properties be saved? This lovely, wonderful flick is just right for any fans of romantic drama, with some comic elements, too. Long may be the only well-known cast member but Devlin and Vaugier are attractive, talented folks who charm the audience very well. Then, too, the small town scenery is gorgeous while the story has some twists and turns that keep the entertainment on a high level. There is likewise no objectionable material, so even tween girls will enjoy it. Do you sense that you are a viewer who will like this movie a lot? Don't delay, get it soon!