HitchDied

Movie Review: Confetti

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As I’ve linked before, your wedding is not a contest.  But what if it were?

In Confetti, a British mockumentary, three couples compete to have the “most original wedding” to win a starter home and a cover story in a bridal magazine.

First there is Matt and Sam, who plan a wedding inspired by Busby Berkeley musical numbers, even though they can neither sing nor dance.  I root for them  because I recognize the actors, Martin Freeman and Jessica Stevenson, from beloved British television programs (The Office and Spaced, respectively).

Then there is Josef and Isabelle, with a tennis-themed wedding.  The editors of Confetti don’t want them to win because Josef is kind of a jackass, but more importantly, Isabelle has very large nostrils.

The final competitors are “naturists” (that’s British for “nudists”) Michael and Joanna.  On a sad note, according to Wikipedia, the actors portraying this couple apparently felt deceived about how much nudity would be in the movie and hated the experience of filming.

The fourth couple featured in the film are Archie and Gregory, the wedding planners.  They love their jobs, have an adorable rapport, and deliver some of the film’s funniest lines.  Allegedly the dialogue was all improvised, which I wouldn’t have guessed, and I mean that as a compliment.

So, aside from mocking the silliness of competitive weddings, Confetti strives to illustrate the pressures that marrying couples feel from all directions.  Sam’s family has their own vision of the wedding and their own demands for how they’ll be involved.  Matt’s Best Man writes the couple a wedding song with the unsubtle theme that Matt’s making the biggest mistake of his life.  Isabelle gets an ill-advised nose job.  Michael and Joanna spend the entire movie negotiating for the right to be naked at their nudist-themed wedding.

Each wedding occurs in the same venue on the same day, in quick succession.  Each appears to be more of a theatrical performance than a wedding ceremony.  Still, this conclusion is where the movie really won me over, because even though mocking wedding planning is the point of the film, each wedding is nevertheless depicted as a lovely event.  The couples seem genuinely in love, and delighted to be marrying, even though they have these cartoonish and overblown weddings that have caused so much comedic strife in the first two acts.

So take comfort in that: even if your wedding were a contest, you’d still get married at it.  And that means you win.

10 Comments

  1. I love this movie! And I agree, for all the fighting that goes one, they do convey the happiness and sincerity of the couples on their special day.

  2. I want to check this out! I simply love the brits, I spent a summer studying abroad in cambridge and I swear I relate more to them than america. And I totally love their sense of humor.

  3. this sounds great! I am very impressed you found a wedding movie I actually want to see!

  4. *puts it on netflix immediately*

    • And watched it! Definitely painted a better picture of wedding couples (and by couples I mean brides…because really.) and the wedding planners, too! The planners were the best part of this movie!
      It was a little stressful to my poor Minnesota heart – we can’t take this much yelling. But other than that, it was good.

      • I’ve only been through Minnesota once, and really what struck me was “everyone is blonde!” and “what the fuck is ‘Swimmer’s Itch?’” the latter being what kept me out of Lake Bemidji, but put me in a more secluded lake allowing me to skinny dip for the first time in my life. But I have to say, I’m shocked, SHOCKED! that British people and their notorious stiff upper lips are too much for a Minnesotan’s heart. One of Collin’s dearest coworkers is a Bemidjite (is that the proper demonym? It ought ought to be) and he seems pretty feisty. But he’s more of a sandy blond. Perhaps his Minnesotanosity has been exaggerated.

        ANYWAY, I’m glad you liked the movie!

  5. I love Olivia Colman, who plays the nudist wife, and it bothered me that she had such a negative experience with the film. But she’s easily findable in other great stuff, too… Look Around You and Mitchell and Webb come to mind. Not wedding themed, though, sadly!

  6. その実際 A 気難しい ビデオ 言及このポスト Movie Review: Confetti | HitchDied に関して、そう私はここから明確なアイデアを得ました。
    MCM 新作 http://www.nrcint.com/mcm.html

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