Love, Wedding, Marriage

Four motives, in my case, for see this romcom : the name of director, Jane Seymour, James Brolin and Mandy Moore. And, sure, not less, a Kellan Lutz more attractive for his body than for his acting.

In essence, a serious fist of cliches ( not exactly a surprise ), jokes for film team ( not exactly for audience ), unrealist in full spoon style, not so pleasant stereotypes about Eastern young ladies and sexual references as blink to part of viewers.

In fact, a film about nothing ( except, maybe, the idealisation of parents and their relatin ) . But enough for a very easy comedy and for admirers of actors.

LOVE, WEDDING, MARRIAGE – TRASH IT ( D ) Love, Wedding, Marriage is a disastrous addition in to the rom com movies. From beginning till the end there is no sensibility to the characters or the movie itself. Mandy Moore's approach to finding out that her parents are getting divorce was awful, from the second scene a person can easily imagine in which direction this movie going too. The director try to put some cheesy comedic scenes, dialogues and moments to make this movie enjoyable but sadly it just fire back at him. With some movie even if script is not strong, performances makes movie strong but it fell flat in that department as well. Mandy Moore delivered same boring acting chops, she showcased in previous rom com movies like "License to Wed" & "Because, I said so". Trust me if you play her scenes from all these movies, you won't be able to figure out which scenes is from which movies, she is the same annoying winning romcom wannabee queen. Mandy Moore should stick to animated version of herself like Tangled. "Love, Wedding, Marriage" is just another disastrous attempt after "License to Wed" and "Because, I said so" to become a Rom-Com queen. Kellan Lutz is good when he is shirtless because his acting is atrocious, no-wonder he has almost non-speaking part in "Twilight Saga". Jessica Szore is Gorgeous, I can never figure out why she always looked so awful in Gossip Girl? Overall, Love, Wedding, Marriage is a dreadful 90mints of romcom, you defiantly want to avoid.

If this is the best that Dermot Mulroney can do as a director, then I can safely say that I'll pass on any future projects to which he is attached. This is another "Pottery Barn/cashmere throw" style rom com a la Nancy Meyers (with his and hers convertibles!), but her scripts are superior. This one ranks with the worst offerings on Lifetime TV-- superficial, dull and directed in a lumbering style. The lead is miscast: Mandy Moore is unbelievable as a marital counselor with a Ph.D and a thriving private practice. She has no intellectual weight, no emotional maturity and delivers her lines like a high school girl. It gets old fast. I'm not a Jew but I was offended by the way Brolin's character tries to "explore" his spirituality by taking on all the trappings of that faith and nothing else. If this "subplot" was supposed to be funny, it really wasn't. (Compare the scene in "Annie Hall" when Woody Allen decides to become a Catholic and unpacks white bread and mayo from a grocery bag.) In order to get to the end (which I had to do because of my work), I entertained myself by ticking off how many times Jane Seymour dropped her American accent in the middle of sentences (47). This is a waste of 90 mins and you're better off watching something else.

I like light romance comedies, but what I found most unlikable about this particular movie was Mandy Moore's character's very one-sided personality. She's been in too many movies where her characters have been irritating, one-sided, primadonna types. It's unfortunate given that she is so attractive. It's incredibly irritating to see a protagonist force her vision of what her parent's marriage should be. It was pounded again and again, just irritating, and there was no depth to it such as her showing a painful side as to why she needs to 'fix' things (ie some sense of childhood neglect), nor did it show her maturing into someone who wants their parents to be happy in their own way, without somebody, society, etc telling them what they 'should' be happy with. Who's to say anybody can tell another what makes them happy? Can't a couple go their separate ways for a few days or months, to discover their individual selves? I was more pleased with Jane Seymour's character to experience a life, grow, do new things, travel, etc apart from being some wife-servant. At least with Mandy Moore's character, she could have had some evolution in her efforts (not just that last second fake pill overdose shenanigan to manipulate her parents), to be more altruistic instead of dominating/manipulating.

The conflict with the husband regarding the manipulation was well played. Mandy's character manipulates a fake life-and-death situation to deceive his mother into not wanting to be on her own for 6 months out of her life for once. Mandy's husband called her out on this blatant manipulation and I felt that was the most honest part of the movie, how shallow, selfish the manipulation was, to judge for other people what 'should' make them happy, that it involves some stereotype instead of personal discovery/independence. The resolution of the conflict came out of nowhere. The dialogue started with Mandy's character trying to apologize, but was interrupted, as if an apology or personal change/growth was completely unnecessary. The things the husband wanted from the wife (to accept, in him) was actually nothing to do with why he was angry in the first place. She gets interrupted from her apology, he asks to be accepted, they kiss, end credits. She never got the chance to apologize and so that almost says that it was unnecessary, superficial. Messages like that are dangerous. Even with the movie being a comedy.

I found Mandy's character overall annoying/irritating and given that she felt no remorse for manipulating her parents, that she had no soul. I don't think it was Ms. Moore's fault, as that has more to do with the script and directing, hinting at emotion, providing pause, reflection, etc that the director simply did not provide. These romantic comedies that have such absurd conflict only to end in even more absurd resolution are ultimately dangerous stories of fantasy that even a lighthearted audience should not see. It only can give terrible impressions in a relationship, bad example, and make relationships more painful and illusive. At least a comedy could teach the viewers something. There was no lesson of compromise, of heart-felt communication, of acceptance, of change, of growth, etc - the conflict was sudden and the resolution was even more sudden.

Normally I don't mind watching rom-coms multiple times, but i don't think this is enjoyable to watch again. The characters were too irritating to enjoy. It reminds me of the irritation I felt with another Mandy Moore movie, License to Wed, where the conflict felt so incredibly contrived/out-of-nowhere and the helplessness of the characters (to augment the ridiculous conflict) just made it really annoying. I actually liked her better in Swinging With The Finkels, even though in that movie I found the shallow, apathetic and loyalty-less husband quite irritating.

This film has some of the most outrageous characters. I understand trying to be funny, but some of these people, like the fitness lady, the shrink, the Polish girlfriend and even the mom were just too ridiculous. There was talk about sex in a very awkward (makes you cringe kind of ) way. Mandy's character was too shallow and blind.

I could go on. There really wasn't even one scene where I smiled or connected with, and that's difficult, considering that I LOVE romance and chick flicks.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one, unless you really enjoy irrational, crazy, thinking they are so funny, characters.