Helena from the Wedding (2010)

Pretty Good

Please don't spend money on this.

Fantastic!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This could have gained at least 6 stars in my rating had the editor left more of the movie on the cutting room floor. There are many scenes that should have been deleted to make this movie move more cleanly. The lighting, or rather the lack of, in the first half of the movie nearly had me checking my television. There are too many scenes where there is a bright light in the background and the subjects are dimly lit. That's fine for Law & Order, they know how to do it, but if there was a reason to have such unbalanced lighting, it didn't come across.No problems with the acting but the DP shot some scenes in a manner that didn't seem to fit, such as the scene were one of the women was cutting bread. It was discordant.More lighting, more film on the floor, and some improvement in camera work and this movie might have garnered a star or two more in my book.

Approaching his "mid-life crisis" early, 39-year-old writer Lee Tergesen (as Alex) arranges a New Year's Eve party at his parents' seemingly secluded cabin. Younger by a few years, new wife Melanie Lynskey (as Alice) wonders if she's still attractive. They play host and hostess for two couples and two stragglers. The party of eight has varying degrees of closeness, with the main commonality being the men are old school chums. The protagonist is Mr. Tergesen. Important to Tergesen are the two "single" guests - uncommitted Paul Fitzgerald (as Nick) and blond model Gillian Jacobs (as Helena). The titular Ms. Jacobs was a bridesmaid at Ms. Dominczyk's wedding and Tergesen finds her very attractive...The first guest "couple" is muscular Dominic Fumusa (as Don) and perpetually tipsy Jessica Hecht (as Lynn); they have a troubled marriage, with sex. The second guest "couple" is head-shaved Corey Stoll (as Steven) and pregnant Dagmara Dominczyk (as Eve); they have a troubled marriage, without sex. Yes, she is carrying his child, but it is from a rare encounter (note the mystery of condoms in his briefcase is revealed in a later scene). We follow the various groupings as they drink, smoke and snort coke. A big crisis occurs when the backgammon board is knocked over...A piece is missing!***** Helena from the Wedding (3/14/10) Joseph Infantolino ~ Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Fitzgerald, Gillian Jacobs

It's New Year's Eve and we have an assembly of couples all in varying stages of happiness, meaning unhappiness, in their relationships. But each relationship status is likely to change when Helena shows up. You know, the character that we seem to know about before we've even met her, and the one that they all met at the wedding. Whose wedding? I don't know, just one of the unhappy nameless couples.These characters weren't all that interesting and the fact that they were having difficulty connecting with their better half was both tiresome and obvious. Of course they're having relationship difficulties – they are all alcoholics. There were more bottles of wine in that cottage than the square of the number of people there. Even the pregnant one drank, but I think we're supposed to forgive her because marriage is hard.But we're not watching to focus on the peripheral characters or the wine, we're watching for Helena. What's so special about Helena? She's sexy. She's blonde and a model. Other than that I don't know what's so special about her, she hardly speaks. Gillian Jacobs is a better actress than one would assume based on her sitcom résumé, but here they gave her some weird accent so maybe it is best she says nothing.Once Lee Tergesen and the beautiful Melanie Lynskey get me connected to them, and I almost start caring about what will happen with Helena in the picture, the credits roll. Well they gave each other a look first. The kind of look where all the answers are in the eyes. It's better to end a movie that way if the questions they answer are interesting enough in the first place. Helena who? From which wedding? It's all quite forgettable since it's too hard to care enough to come up with your own answers.

Helena from the Wedding is a classic example of a film written with a single idea in mind, then stretched out to fill a 90-minute run time. In this film, eight seemingly happy friends spend New Year's together in a cabin in the woods, though over the course of the story, we find out that the characters are each struggling with different levels of unhappiness. In this type of story, typically the characters go on a journey of self-discovery that leads to personal growth by the end of the film. In Helena, however, nothing ever really happens. The writer does a good job of fleshing out the different character's mental anguish, but then fails to deliver on the follow through on their collective stories. As soon as the credits started rolling, I scratched my head and asked: "Soooo... what happens now?" That's not really a desirable place to leave a viewer at the end of a film. Especially one that wasn't intended to leave an opening for a sequel. It was a valiant effort, but I think the writer/director can do better.