Film reviews: Wedding Daze
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What’s the story?
Hopeless romantic Anderson (Jason Biggs) finds his dreams are shattered when he proposes to his girlfriend and she dies on the spot. Struggling to come to terms with it, he locks himself away until almost a year later he spontaneously proposes to beautiful waitress Katie (Isla Fisher) even though the two have only just met. To his surprise, she accepts and the two suddenly find themselves arranging a marriage with the help of their oddball friends and family.
What we say
Jason Biggs certainly exists at the risqué end of the romantic comedy genre, seldom shying away from an embarrassing predicament for the sake of audience chuckles. In the opening minutes of offbeat new comedy Wedding Daze, for example, his character appears in nothing but red panties, angel wings and a bow to propose to his long-term girlfriend.
It's an amusing scene that demonstrates his flair for marrying physical comedy with natural vulnerability. But while such pranks worked in the American Pie franchise, they struggle to make ends meet here given the misfiring nature of the rest of writer-director Michael Ian Black's debut feature.
At heart, Wedding Daze is a kooky romantic comedy featuring spirited turns from Biggs and Fisher. But by trying to be too offbeat and incorporating too many wacky characters, the film badly loses its way. The likes of Joe Pantoliano, as Katie's convict father who escapes in order to walk her down the aisle, and Edward Hermann and Margo Martindale, as Anderson's kinky parents, are annoying rather than endearing and interrupt the balance of proceedings whenever they are on-screen - much like "circus folk" duo Matador and Jane (Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Heather Goldenhersh).
But then Black's screenplay constantly places a strain on credibility and really doesn't give his many support characters enough to make them appealing. There are some laughs to be had at the expense of Farrelly brothers-style gags involving snot and embarrassing situations (including a nice moment with a pregnant woman on a bus) but they’re sadly in short supply. The end result is a film that’s likely to leave audiences dazed, confused and very, very angry.
Rating: 
Certificate: 15
Running time: 90mins
Review: Rob Carnevale
Photo: Pathe
