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Acting
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Directing
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Story
Starring: Sam Claflin, Olivia Munn, Eleanor Tomlinson
Director: Dean Craig
Running Time: 100 mins
Love Wedding Repeat is a British film about a wedding where friends, family members, lovers, ex-lovers and more all come together, making for a powder keg of emotions that can change on a dime.
Though it starts off as a fairly generic and rather annoying romantic comedy, Love Wedding Repeat surprisingly manages to wrestle back some fun factor as it descends into utter chaos. It’s not the funniest film you’ll ever see, but there are some great laughs from time to time, as it prioritises ridiculous farce over cheesy romance.
So, if you fancy an easy-going film that will make you laugh, this isn’t a bad choice. But you have to stick with it through a very disappointing opening act.
Spending far too long on introducing its menagerie of characters and their interweaving life stories, Love Wedding Repeat takes an absolute age to get started. The opening act isn’t funny in the slightest, and its attempts at Bridget Jones/Four Weddings-esque cringe comedy fall flat consistently.
The screenplay is nowhere near as interesting nor clever as it thinks in the opening stages, and the focus on frustratingly generic and predictable rom-com tropes over silly, farcical comedy makes it a dull watch from the start.
But, things really do take a turn for the better after the first third. As more and more characters and mad side plots arrive on the scene, the film begins to descend into utter chaos. And with that, the generic rom-com tropes disappear, and manic, farcical comedy takes over.
With hugely energetic performances from its ensemble cast (including surprising comedic turns from Sam Claflin and Olivia Munn), there’s a lot of fun to be had as the film becomes more and more chaotic.
Now, the movie is funniest when it’s at its most chaotic, yet it still attempts to tell some sort of story in the midst of all that mania. On the one hand, it tries to keep a romantic theme going through, particularly surrounding Claflin and Munn’s relationship.
On the other hand, the movie tries to introduce ideas about fate and the butterfly effect in romance. In that vein, it cuts off its main story and starts to play with alternate endings that, although perfectly funny, feel a little awkward and forced.
In all honesty, it feels like the writers’ room had a bunch of different ideas for funny, cringey scenarios, but couldn’t fit it all into one coherent story. So they decided to throw in a fairly clumsy play on alternate endings that feels pretty unconvincing.
Still, with enjoyably chaotic humour and good performances across the board, Love Wedding Repeat is a surprisingly entertaining watch at its best moments. Its awful opening act is an obstacle to overcome, but in the end it is a fun watch, and that’s why I’m giving it a 7.2 overall.
