Movie Review - Love Wedding Repeat

Some critics compared this film to Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Both are British, romantic comedies that start off in similar ways. A couple meets. The guy is from the UK and the girl is from the USA. They have a connection, but they separate for years and don't meet again until they run into each other at a wedding. In Four Weddings and a Funeral, it makes sense that the couple don't meet again until the next wedding. It doesn't make all that much sense here that the couple essentially loses touch. That 1994 film was before the advent of the Internet and social media. Obviously, there were phones, but it was before the advent of mobile phones and everybody having one. That's not the case here. This film opens with a couple connecting so much that they almost kiss. They get interrupted and they part ways. Yet, they have a mutual person in common. Why the two wouldn't stay connected through social media doesn't seem plausible, if we believe the two connected that much.

When the two meet three years later, it's very coincidental that neither is in a relationship. Even Richard Curtis who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral didn't have the coincidence and contrivance that the two would both happen to be single three years later. The whole premise is that the guy wants to ask the girl out. He obviously wants to date her and be her boyfriend. Even though he almost kissed her three years ago, he has to use this wedding as a way of connecting with her again and getting to a point where he can ask her out. The film progresses all in one day and the way that it progresses, we're supposed to believe that if the guy doesn't accomplish the task of asking her out in this day, it's over forever. Unless the world is ending, which this film never suggests, it's odd why the guy feels like he'll be cut off from this girl, if he doesn't connect with her at the wedding.

Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Snow White and the Huntsman) stars as Jack, a man whose occupation or career is never made explicit. Based on his social circle or the circle of people we encounter on his sister's wedding day, it's implied that he perhaps works in the entertainment industry or in the media. The specific jobs of everyone else is more clear though than whatever Jack does for a living. I suppose it doesn't matter because the only thing one needs to know is that he's attending his sister's wedding. He's in her bridal party, but he learns that her sister's friend is attending and three years ago, Jack was on the verge of falling in love with that friend until they were interrupted.

Jack's goal is to spark up a conversation with his sister's friend and hopefully begin a relationship. Unfortunately, problems keep popping up, which Jack's sister is scared will ruin her wedding. Therefore, Jack has to keep helping his sister with these problems, so that the wedding isn't ruined, which means that he can't spend time with his sister's friend. It's a perfectly fine, comedic conceit, but it's not life-or-death. All Jack has to do is give his sister's friend his phone number or social media, so that they could connect later, if not after the wedding then whenever is better for them.

Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse and The Newsroom) co-stars as Dina, the aforementioned friend to Jack's sister. She's a journalist, a war reporter who goes all around the world to dangerous places. Three years before her friend's wedding, Dina had a connection with Jack that was interrupted. In that time, it doesn't seem as if she's thought much of Jack. She's had a lot of things happen in her life. She obviously remembers Jack, but, she doesn't seem too invested or cares either way if she continues that connection or not. Given Dina's rather indifference or even reticence to make more of a move toward Jack herself, it makes investing in any possible relationship between Dina and Jack more difficult.

I don't blame her for not being more invested. She had a connection, but it wasn't cemented. She almost kissed him, but she didn't because they got interrupted. There are plenty of good guys with whom she could connect. I don't think this film is suggesting Jack is the love of her life, so whether or not she hooks up with him doesn't feel like a big deal for her and her world. It doesn't need to be a big deal, but it takes away the stakes and makes this trifle more dismissable.

Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark and The White Queen) also co-stars as Hayley, the sister of Jack. It's her wedding that is the majority setting of this film. She's a girl from England marrying a guy from Italy. Her wedding is in fact happening in Rome at a beautiful countryside villa. She's a beautiful bride. However, she realizes that an ex-boyfriend named Marc, played by Jack Farthing (Poldark) has crashed her wedding. This ex is drunk and he believes that he and Hayley belong together. She's scared that Marc will ruin her wedding, so she asks Jack to keep Marc from doing so without causing a "scene" that causes anyone including her fiancé from learning about Marc.

This is where the source of the hi-jinks lie. The comedy is basically Jack running around trying to wrangle Marc and keep him away from his sister and her fiancé. More comedy comes from the interactions from three, other couples who are attending the wedding, having come from England. Joel Fry (Yesterday and Game of Thrones) plays Bryan, the maid of honor at Hayley's wedding despite being a man. He's probably the most endearing, but he's sidelined for most of the movie. Allan Mustafa (People Just Do Nothing) plays Chaz, probably the funniest character, even though he's also the embodiment of toxic masculinity, insecure and easily angered. Tim Key (Alan Patridge) is probably the least funniest and the least necessary in the ensemble. His whole bit is that he wears a Scottish kilt, despite not being Scottish and it irritating his pubic area.

Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Slumdog Millionaire) plays Amanda, the ex-girlfriend of Jack who for some inexplicable reason is invited to the wedding. She's currently dating Chaz. I suppose her presence is supposed to stand in contrast to Dina and show the kind of people with whom Jack has been involved and why he's so desperate to make a move on Dina, but Pinto as an actress ultimately ends up being wasted on a character who's only one note and spiteful.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 40 mins.

Available on Netflix.