The Wedding Party (2005)

Load of rubbish!!

Just what I expected

Awesome Movie

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

"Die Bluthochzeit" or "The Wedding Party" (which sounds a lot more harmless than the German title mentioning blood) is a relatively well-known German film from 2005, so this one is already over a decade old. It is one of the more known works by Belgian filmmaker Dominique Deruddere and he even directed an Oscar-nominated film in the past (foreign language category). But back to this one we have here: It runs for under 1.5 hours and the two big names in the cast are Uwe Ochsenknecht and Armin Rohde, but German film buffs will also maybe recognize some other faces or names too. So yeah this is a movie about a wedding day that goes pretty wrong. It's not the two dads clashing actually, but it is the groom's father clashing with the guy in charge of the food and the two big egos are played by the two actors I already mentioned. Rohde's character is definitely the initiator here as things start off badly already when he randomly starts shooting turkeys on the way to the party as he had on his mind right away that Ochsenknecht's character will fail in providing the adequate quality. The question if he actually did fail is secondary as one simple comment is enough to trigger the drastic reaction. The consequence is an invoice that wouldn't be paid and as a direct consequence a hostage situation. Until that point, it was a decent movie. But the longer it goes, the more it moves away from quality entertainment and that is really only because it tries to be a family drama and as such it never succeeds. I probably could have lived with all the over-the-top action if the comedy had stayed the way it was early on, but it became less and less in terms of both quantity and quality. That really is a shame because things started pretty well. But yeah this never was a film I managed to take seriously one bit. Another problem was that this one simply included far too many characters and failed to elaborate properly on most of them. Yeah sadly this turned into a pretty disappointing watch and I am glad it was relatively short. Watch something else instead.

What I like most about this movie is that it doesn't waste my precious time with a needlessly lengthy build-up. We find out who the characters are, why they hate each other, and how it could ever come to this. That's good enough for me. It takes about six seconds before the action starts, seriously. The script proves to be pretty good, there are plenty of exciting turns in the story, and the action scenes are often interrupted by some pretty intriguing character studies. Or the other way around, depending on how you look at it. I especially like the way Hermann is portrayed, kind of a clichéd villain at times, but still, could easily exist. I also enjoyed the grandpa, he doesn't really get to do much but he steals every scene he's in. Well, he does get to throw a grenade, which is always pretty awesome. There's also some comic relief involved, and it's perfectly timed in this dark tale. The only thing I didn't care for was the ending, but after 90 minutes I found it hard to be mad at this movie.

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, by Ambrose Bierce: "MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two." I've heard of "shotgun weddings" before, but... this one takes the (wedding) cake. Granted, marriage is a metaphor for hostage-taking, anyway, but the two women who find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place in this sordid affair would've been better off sans the menfolk. THE WEDDING PARTY is dead on target for the most part in its observations of (irrational) human behavior. The way the two protagonists stick to their guns is typical of the Alpha Male. Neither willingly gives ground (nor does the filmmaker). The wordless exchange at film's end is worth the price of a rental. Highly recommended.

I've seen many good movies but this one was really great. Armin Rohde plays the role of the rich man who doesn't know a words like "unsuccesful" or "no" so realistic that he really scared me. I mean who goes for a hunt after church on his way to his own son's wedding dinner. The hole film is really funny as long as you know that your own father or stepfather doesn't look OR act like the character Armin Rohde plays.The conflicts in the film don't seem unrealistic. The setting, the hotel and restaurant, are wonderful. The actors fulfill their roles in a way that is not too soap- or sitcom-like and once again it is a pity that most German movies are not translated into English.If you liked "Meet the Fockers" you will like that one too.