Review of The Wedding Plan (2016) by Gary G — 14 Jun 2017

So I saw this really intriguing movie called The Wedding Plan. It is kind of what Rocky would be if it were about love and not boxing. It's about a woman who lives in Jerusalem and gets ditched by her groom-to-be, yet she resolves to get married within the month. So in some ways it becomes a mystery movie - who will be the groom? She's also religious and trusts that God will provide her with a husband. This movie does not actually push faith, even though it is as tame as you would expect a religious film to be. It's not a movie that preaches how good God is. Rather, it reflects how these characters lead their lives, and that is one of the coolest aspects of this film. The other is the lead actor who plays the protagonist. She is an absolute headcase, yet is charismatic and resolved to stand by her beliefs. I'd say the actor does a 90 percent great job of owning her character. The performances are mostly good - sometimes the guys can be a little flat, but the charisma is there to carry them through. The whole premise is also highly original. This movie takes on a storyline that could easily turn cheesy, but the heavy-handed tone here totally works in its favor, conveying the gravity and importance of the groomless main character seeing through her wishes and desires to get married within the month. And the execution itself, barring the major misstep that the ending takes, is pretty interesting. It's a cool concept and gets the appropriate treatment.

THAT SAID!

I can't actually recommend you see this movie unless you can handle its most glaring, most atrocious, most heartbreaking problem.

The cinematography is hoooorrrrrrrible! Shaky cam is shaAaAaAaaAaaaaaAaAaakYyyy! See how annoying that was to read? Well, that's how aggravating it is to just view this movie. The close-ups don't always work, the constantly moving camera keeps you off-balance and when already you're already trying to shift your attention from the center of the screen where the talking heads are to the subtitles below since this is a foreign movie, the added shakiness makes WATCHING the movie rather taxing. It stinks too because you take that problem out of the equation, and this is a really cool film. If you're a fan of original films and foreign releases, you're up for trying something new and/or you can brave shaky cam from start to finish, then this movie is yours.

But if you're not interested in that, then, well...yeah, it's ok to pass on this bride.