Gently Down the Stream

Robert De Niro's character Don, whose son is about to get married, has a pretty good line in the beginning of THE BIG WEDDING, something having to do with marriage being liken to a phone call at night… First the ring, and then you wake up. Well here we have more of a message – an extremely familiar one at that – spoken on a broken down answering machine. After about twenty frantic minutes of all the characters... including sons, daughters and girlfriends... bickering at each other incessantly, an actual "plot" surfaces: Don and his ex-wife Ellie, played by Diane Keaton, has to pretend to be married (BIRDCAGE, anyone?) in order to please their adopted son's uptight catholic mother, who frowns on divorce. The first of many problems is simply: Who the heck cares about this woman anyway? Robert De Niro, relating back to that initial joke, phones in a lazy performance but his beard fits him well – you can say he looks better now, at the beginning of being legitimately old, than he did ten years ago as an aged version of his younger self. But all his character's flippantly crass humor is more fitting to the young. Spouting Judd Apatow style sexual jokes is awkward and unfunny throughout this muddled mess of a romantic comedy, leading to that big wedding only lasting ten minutes before the film ends quickly. Well that was one prayer answered

I don't even know where to start on how absolutely bad this movie is. I typically only write reviews when a movie is unexpectedly great, or moving in one way or another. But I felt compelled to write a review for this movie, if nothing else than to send a message to Hollywood that viewers are actually smarter then they give us credit. You would think with a movie that features not one, not two, not three but four or more major actors would at least be tolerable. Wrong. Did I miss something, are actors just like the rest of us, living from paycheck to paycheck, barely making end's meet? That's the only excuse that would "maybe" allow me to accept why some of these people took these roles. Or perhaps there was an old "debt" that needed to be repaid to a director or studio? There must be some excuse, because anybody with any kind of preservation for their career would have passed. Robert (De Niro), are you serious? I watched you accept a lifetime achievement award a year or two ago and you went on and on about all the crappy roles you've accepted in recent years (including "Little Fockers", which by the way is head and shoulders about this movie) - and yet here you are again. ??? Please don't tell me YOU need a paycheck too? Bottom line: I would not be completely surprised if this movie wasn't written on the back of a bar napkin at some cheesy off the road place over the period of a couple hours. Character development is extremely shallow and inconsistent and story cohesion and development is about non-existent. Do yourself a favor and watch something else. Anything.

A few funny moments, but overall a waste of time....my wife actually proposed me to watch Iron Man 3 instead....but i was being a "good" husband and said: "No honey, you wanted to watch this one". Halfway through the movie we both agreed that Iron Man would be a better alternative.... So, i'm not against sexual humor (like for example The Hangover) but this one i would recommend you all to skip... Peace out :) BTW i don't like being forced to write 10 lines, unless the movie i am commenting on is worth it :p

The potential was definitely not reached in this film. The script had some lightly sophisticated humor but didn't include as much wit as it could have been successful with. It was a pretty light R rated film, carrying a few sexual jokes and scenes, and a few F bombs. Much of the humor was based on sexual dialog, which might've been okay but it didn't carry any depth, and just had somewhat lame sex jokes. By no means was this a BAD movie, it really wasn't, but it could have been much better. The all-star cast did have some nice on screen chemistry and I liked the charm and wit brought on by the great young actors, namely Topher Grace. (I might be biased because I loved That 70s Show.) I feel like the release of this film was very overshadowed by Pain & Gain, and the marketing and promotion of THIS movie was no where near enough. One thing this film did get right was the trailer. It revealed just enough for you to be intrigued, yet not feel like you know the whole film, so if you think the trailer revealed the whole movie, go ahead and see it and you might be pleasantly surprised. It wasn't bad, but wasn't anything special.

The wedding is small. The cast is big. Great performances all around. Exactly what you expect from these seasoned professionals. They seemed to be having a good time. A sitcom premise, adds some nudity and language to lift it to movie worthy. A great opening set piece with the three major stars. If you talk on a diving board is there any doubt your going into the pool? Beautiful photography of a beautiful setting. A good score helps too. It may not be the best of the "wedding comedy genre", but it is an entertaining, feel good movie. It is always good to see a family more messed up then your own. Eat some popcorn and enjoy the show.

I won't talk much about the plot ( which there was one) but what I will say is first the performances. Deniro was hysterical I can't remember the last ti.e I laughed so hard. Before watching this movie I wasn't expecting much based on the reviews. I have come to the conclusion that critics have greasy palms and if there forgot About then your movie will be trashed. Its sad just a fact of life. So the bottom line is this is not a waste of 90 minutes. Cool story, great acting and keeps your I interest the entire time. Ignore the critics on this one someone forgot to pay them.

Over all the movie was a bit of a disappointment even though I've been looking forward to seeing it for quite some time (Not for the big A- list case either), Rather I was looking forward to seeing the Talents of Ben Barnes back on the big screen. I wasn't disappointed in that regard. His portrayal of Alejandro was brilliant, his American accent was exact and his Spanish was impressive as well. I thought Al and Missy were adorable, but the movie itself had way too much going on. Just when you thought the story line couldn't get any crazier something stupider happened and by the end it was hard to keep everything that was going on straight. It had endearing and sweet family moments that were really it's only saving grace. If you had cut out half the random story lines and the random awkward sexual parts that...for the record did not add to the plot line, it would have been a great movie but as usual a potentially good film is ruined with crude comedy. That being said some of the story lines that had been supplemented by crude comedy were amusing story lines but were sort of ruined.

Given the premise (deduced from the trailer) and the title I was thinking of skipping 'The Big Wedding' but it's got Hollywood's finest actors like Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton and Robert de Niro. Surely, the film is at least worth a watch for their performance, right? Well, a more appropriate title for the movie would have been 'The Big Disaster In the Name of a Movie'. Yes, it's messy, silly and...not funny. 'the Big Wedding' was sold as a romantic comedy wedding flick but the 'jokes' appear forced, desperate and lack originality. Moreover it pokes fun at Catholics, free spirited people and divorced couples. The aforementioned talented actors are wasted which is a real shame. The younger cast's performance ranges from average to poor. The set and outdoor sceneries provide some nice eye-candy. Loaded with clichés, pretending to be funny and wasting talents, this expensive film is kind of...well, trash.

"The Big Wedding" seems to be following in the footsteps of the recent Hollywood romantic comedies – gather as many big name stars as you can and put them all in a romantic comedy storyline. It's the best of the bunch, even though that's not saying anything at all. It's also based on a French film "Mon frère se marie", and that's not really saying all that much either. Any description of the plot is just going to read as a listing of who's who of Hollywood. But let's do it anyways: We have the patriarch and matriarchs (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon); we have the up-and-comers excited for their big day (Ben Barnes and Amanda Seyfried); and then we have the middle siblings who have had their time in the spotlight and are starting to fade away (Topher Grace and Katherine Heigl). The wedding revolves around lies (obviously) and religion - with Robin Williams as the drunken Catholic priest. And it also includes lots and lots of sex jokes. The surprising thing that audiences are taking away from this film, especially in spite of the decidedly negative critics' responses, is that it is hilarious. Fans of the film will find themselves laughing from beginning to end. But to give you fair warning, all of the jokes are sexually-based, and I mean all of them. Laughing at the Catholic stigma of don't have sex but if you do, don't be safe; laughing at people who have too much sex; laughing at people who don't have sex; and worse of all, laughing at divorced and married couples who have sex with one another. While some of the jokes were funny, they're also responsible for creating the uneasy dynamic amongst the characters – all of whom are family (or, at least, are about to become in-laws). At times the film crosses the line from funny dysfunctional family to repulsive dysfunctional family. The one line that "The Big Wedding" straddles well is that between comedy and drama. The film is effective when it moves from funny jokes to touching family honesty and back to some more funny jokes. The story lines are very predictable, and sometimes the jokes are too simple and too wrong, but it tries to add in the right amount of drama, and ultimately, it should be entertaining to fans of the genre.

Really, who cares? These people have everything and nothing makes them happy. Beauty, wealth, success and the inevitable large, beautiful house, and they are all nibbling at each other like sad hungry little shark babies. As many other reviewers here have said, it is inconceivable that these great actors took these parts. Didn't any of them say to their agent, This is shallow and I'll have none of it....? It is dispiriting to see so much talent, and money, wasted on a piece of work that has so little value to the world. I heard a lot about this movie being targeted to the Boomer generation. I am of that generation, and the stories we have to tell, with a lifetime of experience, love, and loss, are infinitely more important, complex and interesting than this paper-thin film.