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Stars: Maggie Grace, Diane Keaton, Jeremy Irons
Director: Dennis Dugan
Distributor: Saban Films

“You’re insane, and I’m insane for being with you!”

Ensemble rom-coms are just the best, right?..

When a skydive goes hilariously wrong, Jessie (Maggie Grace) – a wedding planner – crash-lands a wedding by the lake, resulting in her being dubbed as the “Wedding Trasher” after a video of the incident goes viral. Fortunately for Jessie, she is one of multiple comical disasters in Love, Weddings & Other Disasters. Veteran actors Jeremy Irons and Diane Keaton provide even more laughs in their avenue of story as Lawrence and Sara respectively, a doomed couple on a blind date – a literal one as Keaton’s character is blind. Furthermore, beginning to delve into the utterly ridiculous, we are also presented with gameshow contestants Svetlana (Melinda Hill) and Jimmy (Andy Goldenberg), both of whom are chained together and followed by a camera crew in an attempt to win one million dollars – it’s super sketchy and terrifically sleazy, but also a bit weird. Plus, we have Andrew Bachelor’s Captain Ritchie, a boat tour guide on a quest to find his soul mate…with a dolphin neck tattoo. Believe it or not, all (or most) of the dots do indeed connect: Jessie and Lawrence are both wedding planners, either end of the spectrum, and Jessie is planning the wedding of her sister Liz (Caroline Portu) and local politician, Robert (Dennis Staroselsky), the brother of Jimmy. Again, believe it or not, but these character connections do not feel forced or too unrealistic to exist in the real world. All of the characters possess intrigue and plausibility; it’s great. Individually and collectively, quests of the highest order are established to achieve the ultimate notion in life: love – not only for themselves, but for others around them, can this journey in the name of love be a success?

As a film boasting an ensemble cast, the plot expectedly jumps back and forth between characters, though majority of the screen share is amongst Jessie and Lawrence & Sara. It seems that Jessie is the main character – she is, essentially, the key to everything – but, of course, Irons and Keaton are the more recognisable talents on screen. Their story is the best too. The representation, however, of Keaton’s Sara could be troublesome in that Diane Keaton isn’t actually blind, and her guide dog isn’t exactly the best of good boys, often leading her into danger and disaster.

As one would naturally expect, Love, Weddings & Other Disasters entails an extravagance of wholesomely fun entertainment – even light-hearted fluff, perhaps. On a completely feel-good basis, writer-director Dennis Dugan provides a charming tale where anybody can find love and everything will work out in the end – something which is desperately needed in this year of despair. A film like Love, Weddings & Other Disasters not only provides a great alternative to the typical holiday and seasonal films, its all-round aesthetic and joyful spirit exists as a refreshing gift which brings hope for the following year ahead.

Many thanks to Saban Films for the pleasure of this film.

3 Stars

Dom.

For John.

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This article’s featured image: By Source, Saban Films, Fair Use https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10235718/mediaviewer/rm1301249/