Movie Review: “Our Family Wedding”
Franck Tabouring
Seen on: March 14, 2010
The players: Director: Rick Famuyiwa, Writers: Rick Famuyiwa, Wayne Conley, Cast: Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Regina King, Lance Gross
Facts of interest: None.
The plot: A happy couple must face their parents and tell them they will get married. Chaos ensues soon after...
Our thoughts: “Our Family Wedding” feels like something that should have been released straight to DVD. It’s a film that blatantly recycles one too many ideas from previous movies of the same genre without offering cinemagoers anything worth caring for. The story is dull, the characters are dumb, and the performances honestly couldn’t be much worse.
Look, we’ve seen all of it one too many times already. Lucia (America Ferrera) and Marcus (Lance Gross) are a happy couple ready to get married, but before they tie the knot, they have to break the news to their parents. Lucia also has to tell her folks she quit law school, and Marcus has to let his dad know he will head to Laos soon to volunteer as a doctor.
Oh, and by the way, Marcus is of African-American origin while Lucia is Mexican, and that’s apparently a big problem as well. Needless to say, when the parents clash for the first time, all hell breaks loose, and especially Marcus’ dad Brad (Forest Whitaker) and Lucia’s father Miguel (Carlos Mencia) take an instant dislike to each other.
What follows for most of the film’s running time is a disastrously moronic battle between Brad and Miguel, who act like total jerks in front of their children and don’t have anything better to do than throw racist insults at each other in pretty much every scene? If you think this sounds hilarious, think again, because truth be told, it’s really painful to watch.
“Our Family Wedding” simply follows the chaos that ensues in the days leading up to the wedding, which both families are trying to organize together. Marcus and Lucia just stand there and watch the whole mess instead of making it clear that their parents have no right to act this way, and that alone kills their credibility early on.
In fact, none of these characters are in any way compelling to watch, and by the time they are all introduced, this film has already started to develop into a lame comedy about two families who act like idiots instead of thinking about what matters most: the happiness of their kids.
Believe me, it takes forever for them to realize that, and sadly enough, “Our Family Wedding” keeps dragging and dragging. The jokes don’t work, the acting is really bad, and the plot really struggles to keep moving at a steady pace. And before I forget to mention it again, the only thing Brad and Miguel have in store for us are stupid insults.
Freaky quote: "The goat's for Mexican celebration." - Carlos Mencia
The final word: Did I mention the film also features a goat that eats some Viagra and ends up humping Forest Whitaker? No, I am not kidding. The freaking goat literally gets horny on Forest Whitaker. Anyway, before I lose my utterly important thought, let me just say that this is a big-screen wedding you should probably not attend. This party sucks.
Article by Franck Tabouring
Reader Comments (1)
An idea that might have worked as a sit-com but comes off lackluster in the format of a feature film, 'Our Family Wedding' is as predictable as can be.
George