Review of Our Family Wedding (2010) by Adam F — 07 Apr 2014

"Our Family Wedding" is an extremely broad comedy with a few small moments of genuine heart but most of the time it just doesn't work. The movie is about an interracial couple finally deciding to meet each other's families and tell them they're getting married. She's Central American (America Ferrera plays the bride, Lucia), he's African American (Lance Gross plays Marcus, the groom) and if you think there's going to be some racial differences between the families, you'd be right! Things start off on the wrong foot when the two families meet. Not only is Marcus' father, Brad (Forest Whittaker) late because his car was towed earlier in the day, but Lucia's father, Miguel (Carlos Mencia) is the one who towed it! To make things even worse, Brad, who is a radio personality and big-time player has brought a date to this intimate dinner and wouldn't you know it, the date used to go to school with his future daughter-in-law! Things basically go from bad to worse from then on, with Lucia's Grandmother not only fainting at the very sight of a black man, but also strongly disapproving of her granddaughter marrying outside of her faith, the parents disagreeing over what to do about their children's choices and family members bickering and reopening old wounds. Can this clash of cultures, worsened by a family grudge that would make the Capulets and the Montagues look like the Flintsones and the Rubbles end pleasantly? Even if the two families do set their differences aside, how can a wedding possibly be pulled off when so many disagreeing opinions are thrown in the mix?!

There is thankfully an incredibly easy way to find out if this movie will appeal to you in any way whatsoever, and that's to point out the two worst jokes of the movie. The first is the scene where the grandmother faints at the sight of Marcus. Does that sound hilarious to you, or does it sound like something that in real life should be met with outrage on behalf of the would-be bride and increasingly heated discussions about racism between two visual minorities? If this sounds like bad comedy, there's no reason for you to watch this film! The second worst joke in the film is the really crucial one because if the first joke sounds bad, but not so bad it would make this movie a complete disaster, this is what will determine whether or not you should spend your valuable time on this comedy: we get a scene where a goat accidently eats a whole bunch of blue Viagra pills and starts trying to have sex with the two fathers, just as a group of unsuspecting guests walk in. Does that sound like the kind of joke a 13-year old would write, because the idea of a horny goat humping a grown man is hilarious? Or could it be comedic writing so bold that no one has dared to put it in a film? If your answers were "Hey, in the correct context and if I was in the mood for some laughs, that sure could be funny" then this movie is probably going to appeal to you, particularly if you grew up in a family of visible minorities where all of you got together and made fun of how all the other cultures out there just wouldn't "get" your brand of humour. If you correctly answered that those jokes sound like some of the most manufactured, lame-brained and idiotic setups, then you should carefully remember the name "Our Family Wedding" so you can avoid it at all costs. As you may have guessed, I fall into the camp of people that do not think this film is particularly funny.

The comedy is broad, stretches plausibility constantly and is completely uninspired. There isn't a joke or a plot development you can't see coming early on and that makes the movie nearly completely devoid of laughs. The characters seem like complete morons instead of quirky exaggerations of real people and frankly it becomes embarrassing to see some actors that have genuine talent spending their time regurgitating this nonsense. As mentioned earlier there are a few moments that have some genuine heart, one of which is between Lucia and her mother, when she confronts them about how poorly they've been treating the man she loves and throws some wake up calls right in their faces out of spite. But for those few moments you get several that are simply idiotic, like the two fathers getting wasted at a bar and heckling a bartender because he prefers to be called a "mixologist" and a food fight involving a wedding cake right before the end of the film. Let's not forget the predictable love plot involving Brad. Is there a chance that this new revelation that his son is ready to spend the rest of his life with a woman might break open the walls of ice that have been forming around Brad's heart ever since his messy divorce? Is there a chance his best friend, the attractive woman that he has known for years might be able to forgive his player ways just in time for the big ceremony? You already know the answers so give yourself a pat on the back.

It's predictable, it's not very funny, it's not very touching and it spends a significant amount of its jokes describing how African Americans are different from Central Americans. Does that sound like a good time to you? Even as a movie that has a lot of potential to be "so bad it's good" it's just a frustrating mess that becomes embarrassing on more than one occasion. If you're the exact target demographic this movie is aiming for maybe some of the jokes will hit their mark but even then it would just be an average comedy. As is, it's a terrible example of what someone though "funny" could be. (On Dvd, July 8, 2013).