Review of The Decoy Bride (2011) by Luciano G — 20 Aug 2012

The Decoy Bride is that rare -- if we were cooking it'd be bloody-bloody -- British comedy that is as straight forward as it looks/sounds. What you see is EXACTLY what you get with The Decoy Bride which is rather unusual/odd for a film with the word "decoy" in the title.

Most British comedy can produce howls of laughter as a good romp is filled with witty dialogue and clever situations; but here everything feels manipulated and forced and little of it is either light-hearted or enjoyable.

Decoy's story features the wedding of one of the world's most famous movie stars -- Lara Tyler (Alice Eve - She's Out of My League, The Raven, Sex and the City 2) -- as she is set to marry a one-hit-wonder, British author named James Arber (Doctor Who's David Tennant).

The ceremony is unfortunately crashed/disturbed by a pesky paparazzo! Distraught and wating privacy, Lara's Hollywood handlers (including Ugly Betty's Michael Urie) whisk them away to an isolated island in the Scottish Hebrides (named Hegg) to be married (secretly) in a fairy tale castle/manner.

As plans are thwarted by that same pesky paparazzo, a decoy bride is brought in to throw everything off ... which actually just muddles everything as the actual bride has disappeared and the decoy and the groom must spend some time together to make everything look "normal" to the outside world.

Kelly MacDonald ("Boardwalk Empire", Trainspotting, Elizabeth) -- who is much better than this tripe -- plays the pragmatic decoy and she is the film's saving grace although she has very little to do but put herself down, insult others, pine away and humiliate herself.

The film is very short (less than an hour and a half!) and that it becomes boring and tedious and tired (and ... uh ... so very predictable) is unfortunate. Other than MacDonald, there is nothing to see here -- ignore this decoy!