The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie Review

Lost in translation.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 13, 2013

There are a number of questions which may occur to inquiring minds as they watch The Big Wedding, but probably the most salient of them is what possible goods writer-director Justin Zackham had on a quartet of high profile Academy Award winners which forced them to appear in this dreck. Embarrassing photos? Knowledge of some long ago indiscretion? Whatever it was, it’s nothing short of astonishing to find Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams “cavorting” through this ostensible ensemble comedy, one of the blandest yet smarmiest outings in recent memory. Now to be fair, I did laugh out loud once during this more or less hour and a half enterprise, which is frankly once more than I often do during contemporary comedies, so maybe that qualifies The Big Wedding as a modern masterpiece. But that assignation would mean having to overlook some incredibly trite writing and ham fisted storytelling, all wrapped up in a supposed “feel good” movie that has a long divorced couple pretending to be married for the benefit of their adopted son, whose supposedly rigorously Catholic biological mother has come for his wedding and who will not permit the festivities to proceed if she finds out the people she gave her son to lo, those many years ago, annulled a contract made before God. That in turn alienates the ex-husband’s current live in girlfriend, who also helped raise the young man about to be married. Add in a number of annoying subplots dealing with the ex-couple’s biological children, one of whom is experiencing marital troubles of her own and the other who is a 29 year old virgin, and you have the makings of, in one of this film’s passably humorous lines, a telenovela. The Big Wedding was based on an extremely successful French film called Mon frère se marie, and one can only hope that the French penchant for farce was more humorously realized than in this stumbling mess. Maybe the ultimate answer to all of the questions which arise surrounding The Big Wedding is that Zackham simply doesn’t speak French.

The Big Wedding is filled with the sort of characters one only finds in ostensible comedies nowadays, impeccably glamorous souls who are of course deeply, deeply troubled. Probably the least tic-filled character in the film is Ellie Griffin (Diane Keaton), the ex-wife of impossibly successful sculptor (yes, you read that right) and recovering alcoholic (of course) Don Griffin (Robert De Niro). Ellie, whom Keaton plays just a bit like Annie Hall: The Next Generation, is a somewhat nervous entrant into her “old world”, as Don and his current girlfriend (and Ellie’s former best friend—of course) Bebe (Susan Sarandon), still reside in the Griffin family manse (and believe me, it is a manse). Ellie in fact lets herself into the house, finding where the key has always been stashed, only to then find herself an unwitting witness to a little foreplay between Don and Bebe. Awkward.

Meanwhile, we’re introduced to the Griffin’s three children, two biological and one adopted. There’s daughter Lyla (Katherine Heigl), beset by infertility problems and a devolving marriage. And then there’s son Jared (Topher Grace), a successful doctor who is “saving himself” for marriage. It’s adopted son Alejandro (Ben Barnes) who’s about to tie the knot with Missy O’Connor (Amanda Seyfreid), whose ultra-WASPy parents Barry (David Rasche) and Muffin (Christine Ebersole) aren’t exactly thrilled that their little girl will be marrying a Latino and producing “beige” grandchildren. This group of roiling dysfunction is appended by another former alcoholic, the local Catholic priest, Father Monighan (Robin Williams), who is giving Alejandro and Missy their pre-nuptial counseling and, later, by Alejandro’s biological mother Madonna (Patricia Rae) and sister Nuria (Ana Ayora). In the plot conceit which is supposed to kick this lame attempt at comedy into farcical high gear, it turns out that Alejandro has never told his biological mother about Ellie and Don’s long ago divorce, and he wants the couple to pretend to be married for the few days that his highly religious mother will be in town.

The level of smarm in The Big Wedding is almost unbelievable at times. This is definitely the film you need to say if you’ve ever had a hankering to hear Robert De Niro say “cunnilingus”—repeatedly. Aside from the already questionable plot conceit of having the divorced couple play married while the current girlfriend is shunted off to the side—something that frankly could have worked with more skillful treatment—there’s also the “almost” incest of Jared being more or less instantly propositioned by Nuria, including having the young lady manually stimulating him (underneath a delicately placed napkin) at the rehearsal dinner. This is supposed to be funny? Add in the requisite Viagra references (for Don, at least, not Jared), typical misunderstandings from the non-English speaking Madonna, and the late revelations that several characters had been sleeping with each other at some point in their lives (not to mention another character’s confession of lesbian tendencies), and it’s just a really squirm worthy outing, all things considered.

Keaton at least seems to escape with most of her dignity intact, but this is certainly a career low point for both De Niro and Sarandon (Williams probably doesn’t count since his role is more or less a glorified cameo). Both of these iconic actors seem slightly uncomfortable in this film, as if they already knew before the final scene had been wrapped that they were hopelessly mired in a resolute stinker, but not even their attempts at typical professionalism can do much with this lackluster material. A running gag has various characters assaulting De Niro’s Don through the film, punching him in the nose or slapping him across the face. That’s nothing compared to the virtual assault this film commits on the audience. What a waste.

The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Big Wedding is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. I was frankly a little shocked at how lackluster this digitally shot feature looks on Blu-ray. There's nothing horrible here, mind you, but colors are kind of "blah" looking (aside from one or two outdoor sequences, where they do in fact pop quite nicely), fine detail never rises to eye popping levels, and sharpness, while certainly decent, isn't really all that mind blowing, either. The film also suffers from some unusually poor shadow detail in a couple of dark scenes, notably one in the car between Seyrig and Barnes (see screenshot 15). One nice thing about this presentation is that Zackham at least hasn't aggressively color graded anything here, and so the palette, while not really lustrous in any meaningful way, is at least accurate looking.

The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Big Wedding's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is, rather like the video quality, just fine but far from overtly impressive. Dialogue is certainly very cleanly presented (for better or worse), and there's some attention to immersive detail (listen to when Nuria swims in the Griffin's private lake at how the gurgling water noises pan across the soundfield) offered throughout this mix. The surround channels are fully engaged in some of the good source cues the film features, including an absolutely wonderful rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" by Broadway diva Christine Ebersole, who would have done better to have appeared in this film as a wedding singer, rather than the thankless Muffin.

The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Coordinating The Big Wedding Featurette (1080p; 16:09) is pretty standard EPK fare, with interviews interspersed with clips from the film.

The Big Wedding Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Justin Zackham wrote the much better The Bucket List, a film which, like The Big Wedding, attracted major stars but which either by dint of better writing or better directing (Rob Reiner) was both funnier and more touching than this lamentable feature. Having never seen the French original, I can't authoritatively state that at least some of the problems didn't start with the source material, but I frankly can't imagine the original version could have been so poorly realized as this film is. There's some beautiful scenery here, and, as I stated above, one nice laugh (at least if you find stupid sex jokes as funny as I do), but otherwise this is a major yawn, and at least as embarrassing as whatever secrets Zackham uncovered about his iconic star quartet.