The Big Wedding

The best gifts are those that are truly unexpected. 

 

I had not heard anything about Writer/Director Justin Zackham’s The Big Wedding and thought with the multi-star cast, including Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace and Amanda Seyfried, it might be a picaresque affair like New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s Day.  Instead, it turns out to be this year’s most fun film to date.

De Niro and Keaton play Don and Ellie, a divorced couple of 10 years, whose adopted son Alejandro (Ben Barnes) is marrying into a Catholic/Republican family (Seyfried’s).

 

Not only does the couple have to undergo the scrutiny of the orthodox Father Moinighan (Williams), but Don and Ellie have to pretend they are still married since Alejandro’s birth mother, a very devout Catholic, who is coming from Columbia to the wedding, thinks divorce is the worst sin of all.

The interplay of all the characters, acting out their foibles and exposing their secrets, makes for constant laughs.  And, it’s all done with heart. 

 

I give The Big Wedding my first 5 out of 5 for 2013.