Southwest Messenger - April 19th, 2020

PAGE 16 - SOUTHWEST MESSENGER - April 19, 2020
www.columbusmessenger.com
In Entertainment
“Love Wedding Repeat” humorous but lacks romance
During its long absence from the silver
screen, the much loved and much mocked
romantic comedy experienced a resurgence
on the streaming services. While many
companies dipped their toes in the sometimes
choppy genre water, it was Netflix
who led the charge by producing a slew of
rom-coms that got mouths jabbering and
wallets opening to see the latest buzzed
about product.
While slow to bring it back to the larger
theaters, movie studio executives eventually
glommed onto the fact that people are
still willing to give the rom-com a chance
and began its own revival of sorts.
But then virus induced closures began
and now studios are debating whether to
hold onto their properties and wait until
theaters reopen or release them on demand
and hope people watch them. As they
weigh these pros and cons, Netflix continues
to crank out their creations like they
knew a global pandemic was coming and
people would be stuck indoors and looking
for a distraction.
Its latest rom-com endeavor is “Love
Wedding Repeat” whose plot revolves
around chance and those “ill-fated
moments where all of our hopes and
dreams go right down the toilet.” While
that is a quote that hits the bullseye, the
film itself misses the mark.
It begins in true rom-com fashion with
an awkward goodbye between potential life
mates Jack and Dina (played by Sam
Claflin and Olivia Munn, respectively),
who coincidentally met just a few days
prior. After some false starts, the two go in
for a romantic kiss only to be interrupted
by an old roommate of Jack’s who proceeds
to list of his undesirable college attributes.
Instead of telling his former friend to scamper
off, he leaves with him to split the cost
of a ride to the airport and misses the
opportunity to further his connection to
Dina.
Three years later, the two meet again at
the wedding of Jack’s younger sister
Hayley (Eleanor Tomlinson) and discover
that they are sharing the “English table.”
Hoping to become reacquainted, things
naturally go awry.
Their ill-fated separation begins (again)
when an old flame of Hayley’s shows up,
drugged out of his mind and vowing to ruin
her day. She begs her brother to put a
sleeping sedative in his drink at the
“English table” and he does so against his
better judgment. As he leaves the scene of
the crime, a group of young sprites
rearrange the arrangements and it is anyone’s
guess who has the laced drink.
Upon discovering this unpleasant surprise,
Jack realizes that he is now seated
next to his ex-girlfriend Amanda (Freida
Pinto) and across from her jealous
boyfriend Chaz (Allan Mustafa). To make
matters even worse, Dina is seated next to
a human chatterbox who is not willing to
part from her side.
As the situation with Hayley’s old flame
Marc (Jack Farthing) escalates, Jack has to
try to put out those growing wildfires while
trying to keep that sputtering spark with
Dina alive.
Though the film posits at least eight
possible outcomes from the seating
arrangements, a quick montage shows six
of these alternative timelines with a primary
focus on two. The first timeline, which
takes about an hour, has Hayley’s man of
honor Bryan (Joel Fry) as the unfortunate
victim of the sleep concoction while the second
timeline has Jack as the victim. While
both survive their ordeal with a tranquilizer
that could “knock down several horses,”
the scenes and outcomes vary wildly as the
two struggle to stay awake, complete their
tasks and pursue their passions.
Though “Love Wedding Repeat” is technically
classified as a romantic comedy, it
is more comedic than romantic as the two
leads rarely get a chance to connect. For a
The Reel Deal
Dedra Cordle
large part of the film, the two are put on
the backburner as the secondary characters
steal the show, particularly the argumentative
Chaz, the self-obsessed Bryan
and the human chatterbox Sidney (Tim
Key).
Because of the entertaining scene-chewing
of the secondary characters, you don’t
really get a chance to invest in the budding
relationship between Jack and Dina, which
is sort of the point of romantic comedies.
You want to root on the two hapless leads
as they connect but there is too much going
on in “Love Wedding Repeat” to do just
that.
If you’re looking for a true romantic
comedy, this film might not be the right fit
for you, but if you’re looking for something
awkwardly humorous and don’t mind the
elements of romance you might want to
consider giving this one a chance. Grade: C
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff writer
and columnist.