Wedding Daze: Review-ish Type Thingy

You know, a movie that we found on Netflix that I'd never heard of. Romantic comedy. The description involved strangers getting engaged "on a whim". Needless to say, I didn't have a whole lot of hope for it.

It wasn't bad though. It was enjoyable enough. I mean, it followed the typical romantic comedy formula: each half of the couple have wacky friends or family (in this case it involves circus freaks, a father who's been in jail for who-knows-how-long, the all-too-perfect and weirdly fixated on charades ex-boyfriend, and the awkward, way too openly sexual parents), one half of the couple (generally the girl, though not always) is eccentric and living in a fantasy the entire time while the other one is going the entire movie in a perpetual what-the-hell-is-going-on, one or both of them humiliate themselves in some way, they end up getting into a fight that breaks up their budding relationship until they finally realize that wait, what a mistake that was, get back together, kiss passionately and live happily ever after. There's probably some awkward sexual implications thrown in there in places as well.

This movie was all of that. I'm talking, you can pinpoint the exact moments/characters that this guy talks about in this movie (except the chase scene, which this movie didn't really have).

But the thing is that, even though, okay, fair enough, I wouldn't see this movie a second time because oh my god half of it was just insane and what the heck is going on. The guy's mom threatening to cut the girl with a broken plate? What? All getting arrested and shooting at cops (which, sidebar, I'm almost like 98% sure one of them was played by the same guy who played Principal Snyder on Buffy OKAY I'M SORRY) and the guy seeing visions of his dead fiance.... look. A lot of the movie was just crazy, okay? It was all over the place.

But as I watched the movie, I kind of got the feeling that that was on purpose.

Usually, when I'm watching a movie, especially comedies, especially romantic comedies, I'm not thinking too hard about symbolism or theme or any of that stuff. But a lot of what they kept talking about was that love is terrifying and insane, but with that comes beauty. You can't have one part without the other.

The girl's mother was scared of the passion that came with seeing her first husband, so she abandoned him and got married to someone else, who supported her and her back, but there was no passion in that relationship, and then she was horrifically bored with him. Meanwhile, the guy's parents were absolutely insane and made no sense at all, but clearly had a very well-functioning, romantic, loving and exciting relationship. Examples like that show up a billion times in the movie, just about.

And I think that the movie itself is supposed to sort of replicate the insanity that comes with love. There is so much stuff in that movie that just has you going "Why on earth would they keep that in there? What the heck is going on?" Half the time no one in the movie even knows what's going on. But it's thematic, and representative, and I think once you realize that it makes a lot more sense.

I think that if I were to pick a theme for this movie, it would be something like: True love is only possible once you've embraced the fear that comes with it.

I'm not saying I think that's true - how the heck would I know about something like that? - I'm just about 98% percent certain that's what the film is trying to convey.

So when you look at it from that perspective, and realize that the story's actually probably supposed to be that erratic, it actually becomes a better movie. So I appreciate it for taking its message to such an extreme and making an amusing movie in the process.

Oh, yeah. And also there were actual funny parts. I mean, I don't laugh out loud at movies that often, but I did at this one. So that's a plus as well.

3.5/5 stars.