Greetings again from the darkness. Movie weddings are fertile grounds for romantic-comedies. Folks get dressed up and meet at a fancy venue, while possibly drinking a bit too much and almost certainly dealing with an abundance of family drama. Emotions and stress levels skyrocket, and some handle this better than others. Writer-director Reed Arnold (his directorial debut) sees this as the perfect opportunity for the groom’s ex (best friend/wannabe lover) to crash the wedding, igniting chaos and guilt and pent-up feelings … and laughs.
Ryan (Travis Laughlin) is the groom, while his best man and best friend, Mark, (the filmmaker Arnold) is doing what he does – keeping things loose and wondering how many bridesmaids he can sleep with. We learn quickly that Ryan is a good guy and Mark is a reason so many women don’t trust men. The wedding day is clicking along with only Mark’s juvenile one-liners causing any disturbance. That changes quickly when Rose (Kelly Russo) arrives … uninvited. Rose and Ryan were best friends in college and seemed destined to be together forever. We know this thanks to the flashback where we see their first meeting as Rose works the Pancakes for Parkinsons fundraiser.
Entirely too much is disclosed as these once close friends babble on about the past, present, and future. Despite radio silence for years, Rose simply couldn’t hold back her feelings for Ryan any longer – opting to spoil his wedding day by unleashing her pent-up love. I found myself wondering who is the biggest child amongst these three, and being baffled at the adulting failures on display. There are some unexpected twists here, and the best scene is not the face-to-face between Rose and the bride-to-be, Julia (Laura Elizabeth Delhauer), but rather a tender moment on the sofa between Ryan and an inebriated Rose.
At some point, we all realize that personal connections slip over time. Even those friends whom we once viewed as close and irreplaceable often take a different path in life. In these cases, our memories tend to jumble – we dwell on the really good or the really bad. Mr. Arnold’s film goes even further by uncovering long-held secrets among old friends, creating even more pain. While I struggled a bit with the level of acting in the film, the story structure was such that the film plays as more entertaining than most rom-coms … although I do believe it might work even better as a stage play.
Opens in theaters: NYC August 7, Los Angeles August 14
Movie Reviews from the Dark 