Apparently “The Big Wedding” Americanizes a French story with an all-star cast that includes four Academy Award winners and boasts a list of other great talent. This gave Writer-director Justin Zackham (The Bucket List, 2007) one incredible asset at his disposal: Awesome casting. However, that is the extent to greatness of this flick. This off-beat comedy, at times, was extremely uncomfortable to watch; so much so that it was like stumbling upon one’s parents procreating, in the kitchen, while making dinner. Having said this, there are lots of laughs throughout, and all of the actors are skillful enough to move the story along… it’s just that they are just asked to do really stupid things, which one could considered to be less than becoming of their stature.
The eternally consistent Robert De Niro stars as a successful sculptor, blessed with a rich, complicated romantic history, in this flick. However, despite the star power he brings to the role, he seems to struggle with convincing audiences that his character makes sense in real-world terms. While risking my throwing in a spoiler, I have to say his horny sensualist character is smacked repeatedly, vomited upon at some point, and even endure a pratfall while attempting to perform cunnilingus on the Susan Sarandon’s character. I have to admit, this made for very uneasy viewing, more so than hilarious comedy. Such slapstick humiliations are more suitable to a pie-humping teenager in a sex comedy than a Hollywood giant, like De Niro. In other words, he’s hardly relatable to say the least. All the same, I highly doubt his choice in juvenile antics for this flick will hurt his film career, moving forward. READ FULL THE BIG WEDDING REVIEW >>