Review of The Big Wedding (2013) by Spencer S — 06 May 2013

A coming together of amazing potential and material that seemingly time traveled from 1970 to be with audiences today, this Big, fat, but far-from-Greek Wedding ends up to be somewhat of a marriage of inconvenience for moviegoers. As for a better Mediterranean reference than Greece, this flick amounts to more of a Roman Circus as interpreted by a New York playwright. Indeed, Neil Simon would be spinning around in his urn about now...if he weren't still alive to see his CV picked over like a video store discount rack. Here, it often feels like his greatest comedic works have been immortalized in this reworking called The Brighton Beach Memoirs of an Odd Couple Lost in Yonkers with Biloxi Blues on the 23rd Floor or, as writer/director Justin Zackman calls it, The Big Wedding. Though funny at times, the contrived material, with all-too-familiar situations and caricatures shouldered with both pratfalls and supposedly shocking confessions, has a decidedly dated feel. If it weren't for the F-bombs and modern lingo, you'd think that Jack Lemmon and Ann-Margaret were headlining these wedding bell blues.

In this R-rated comedy, a long-divorced couple (Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton) fakes being married as their family (Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon) unites for a wedding.

Here, De Niro headlines a wonderful ensemble and again astounds viewers with his curmudgeonly comic sensibilities. As a whole, this dysfunctional family generates enough of a spark to make this Deja Viewing almost worth the admission price. If only Zackman's script didn't feel so derivative of past comedies.

Bottom line: The Goodbye Hurl.