The Big Wedding

Comedies, of late, have been like playing the lottery: What are the odds that a particular one is going to be worth seeing or not? So much of the time getting a decent comedy out of Hollywood is like pulling teeth. So when I finally went to see "The Big Wedding", what I expected to be a mediocre comedy was actually a breath of fresh air.

A dysfunctional modern family tries to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy married couple for the sake of Alejandro (Ben Barnes), their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother, Madonna (Patricia Rae) unexpectedly decides to fly from Colombia to attend. With all the other dysfunction going on with Lyla (Katherine Heigl), and her estranged situation with her dad, Don, and Jared (Topher Grace) and the fact that he can't seem to find Miss. Right, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future-- and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.

Others to round out the cast are Amanda Seyfried as Missy, fiance to Alejandro, Susan Sarandon as Bebe, Don's newer wife after Ellie, Robin Williams as Father Moinighan, Christine Ebersole as Muffin,  David Rasche as Barry, Ana Ayora as Nuria and Kyle Bornheimer as Andrew.

This was directed by Justin Zackman ("Going Greek" '01), and this guy ,being a virtual newcomer to feature films in the director's chair, really knows his actors. The dysfunction these characters exuded was amazing, and seemed so real. It was also well written by Zackman ("Going Greek" '01, "The Fastest Man in the World" (Documentary) '03, "The Bucket List" '07) which was based on the motion picture, "Mon frere se marie" by Jean-Stephane Bron and Karine Sudan. Even though there was a similarity in plot to that of "The Birdcage" '96 which was based on another french film, "La cage aux folles" '78, this was still able to stand on its own as the funny film it was.

This was a crazy, zany film that had its own form of sophistication that will have you enjoying the same ride these actors are on in convincing you that, through all the dysfunction, family is the thing that's most important.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                        Rated: R                        90mins.