The Big Wedding

Cast of Characters:
Don Griffin - Robert De Niro
Lyla Griffin - Katherine Heigl
Ellie Griffin - Diane Keaton
Missy O’Connor - Amanda Seyfried
Jared Griffin - Topher Grace
Bebe McBride - Susan Sarandon
Father Moinighan - Robin Williams
Alejandro Griffin - Ben Barnes
Muffin - Christine Ebersole
Barry - David Rasche
Madonna Soto - Patricia Rae
Nuria - Ana Ayora

Director - Justin Zackham
Screenplay - Justin Zackham
Based on the film “Mon frere se marie” by Jean-Stephane Bron & Karine Sudan
Rated R for language, sexual content and brief nudity

      Academy Award winners Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, and Robin Williams star alongside Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Ben Barnes and Topher Grace in The Big Wedding, the American remake of the 2006 French film Mon frere se marie (My brother is getting married).

      Don Griffin (Robert De Niro) and his long divorced ex-wife Ellie (Diane Keaton) are preparing for the wedding of their adopted son Alejandro (Ben Barnes) to Missy O’Connor (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of long-time friends of Don and Ellie. They also have two other children planning to attend, Lyla (Katherine Heigl), their daughter with “daddy issues” who’s having marital problems of her own and Jared (Topher Grace), a doctor pushing thirty who’s still a virgin.

      Of course, problems arise. With a movie like this, there has to be. Alejandro’s biological mother Madonna Soto (Patricia Rae) is coming up from Columbia to attend her son’s wedding. Madonna, a devout Catholic, is completely unaware that Don and Ellie are now divorced and Don is now living with his girlfriend Bebe McBride (Susan Sarandon). Alejandro, not a believer in organized religion, still goes out of his way to appease his mother. First, he gets a Catholic priest, Father Moinighan (Robin Williams) to officiate the wedding. The big kicker though is that he needs Don and Ellie to “play married” for his visiting mother who’s strongly against divorce. Obviously, hijinks ensue.

      If there was an award for Best Middle of the Road, Mediocre Film of the Year, The Big Wedding would win hands down. The performances are uniformly solid, which is truly surprising when you have four Academy Award winning acting veterans along with two comic presences in Katherine Heigl and Topher Grace. The performances aren’t the problem here, and I don’t think anyone would debate that. The problem is everything else. It’s just so conventional. Just look at the poster with the whole family gathered around yucking it up for the camera; how many times have we seen that? The main driving plot of De Niro and Keaton having to play married again for the visiting biological mother while Sarandon pops up here and there, and “Well, hey, who could she be?”, is so “Flintstone’s Episode - Fred having to be at both his bowling tournament and Pebble’s birthday at the same time.” Obviously, hijinks ensue. Secondly, writer/director Justin Zackham goes for cheap innuendo laughs in the typical “big family comedy” aimed at an R-rating. I have absolutely no problem with innuendo humor if it’s at least sharp, biting, and clever. Going for cheap laughs of any sort, be it innuendo or not, is not funny. There’s a reason it’s cheap. You’re trying to push a laugh without putting any effort into it. Plus, the whole subplot of Topher Grace’s Jared still being a virgin was completely superfluous. You’re gonna tell me an attractive guy pushing thirty making a doctor’s salary can’t get any? Now that is suspending disbelief.

      Granted, there is one moment where Heigl and De Niro share a serious scene where they both hit it out of the park, and the film does have its laughs. Williams in particular is nicely restrained unlike other comedy flops he has done recently, but overall it’s just average. It’s nowhere near bad, but it’s nowhere near good. The solid performances and the laughs here and there are enough to merit it a rental, I just wish Zackham spent a little bit more blood, sweat, and tears into the writing, making the humor a bit more sharp. Given the talent that he was working with, he’s without excuse here. I give The Big Wedding a C (★★½).