a mockumentary of love... among other things.
Review by David Wible:
Warning: This review contains spoilers
Full disclosure: The Cruse brothers are my nephews
If you think you know what to expect from the Cruse Brothers' latest production--The Wedding--before you've watched it, think again. The Wedding is like nothing you have seen from them before. There are so many levels at which it succeeds, a critic is hard put to know where to start. First of all, the conceit of the whole film. The wedding of the title is not a fiction. Adam and Jen are engaged and this really is the run-up to their wedding. And all of the characters play themselves. You are actually seeing Adam's sister, Abby, not someone playing the role of his sister. The same for his mother, father, Uncle Steve in cameo. And that really is Jen's mother, sister, father (so powerful a screen presence, Jen's father, that he needed not a line of dialogue in order to steal his only scene). It all made me nostalgic for an appearance by Amos the dog.
Yet, and here is the brilliant breakthrough, while it is all real, none of it is real. They have staged the scenes and scripted them (though one suspects they have given wide berth to their actors, reminiscent of Woody Allen's hands-off approach to directing his actors). And this leads to one of the more rewarding pleasures of watching this film. Since the whole cast is playing themselves, it is easy to forget that this is a mockumentary, not a documentary. They are acting. And some fine acting it is. When every member of a cast of amateurs is putting in strong performances like this, the credit should go to the directors. I would love to see a documentary on the making of this mockumentary. How did the Cruse brothers prepare the clerk at the jewelry store to pull off this piece of farce and play it straight. How did they set the scene and provide the motivation for Jen's mom to do her housecleaning shtick, even to the point of vacuuming the refrigerator!
Pulling performances from amateurs is challenging in itself, but coaxing comedy from them is nothing short of remarkable. There is nothing less funny or more painful to watch than comic acting that almost works but not quite. Here it all works and we laugh. Admittedly, some of the most successful moments come with one of the brothers on screen to help things along. Still the way the brothers do this is unprecedented, each in his own way. The elder Cruse shows us a form of straight man that we have never seen, not in Hardy's Laurel, not in Ralph's Norton or even Big Bird's Gordon. Most comics working with amateurs put the amateur in the role of straight man and play off of them, in many cases turning them into fools (this is Letterman's signature technique, getting laughs by making the guy on the street or in the audience be his straight man and look a fool). Cruse the elder let's the amateur steal the scene and works his subtle magic by playing straight man to the amateur. See him wordlessly accepting advice on housekeeping. Watch as he and Jen try to absorb the Chinese marriage counseling, again, without a word. And on and on.
Cruse the Younger works a reverse sort of alchemy with the amateurs on screen, but to equally devastating effect. He goes for camp. And unlike his brother, he is not going to be the straight man. What he is after calls for a different approach. First, his brand of camp doesn't knock you over the hand; it sneaks up on you. Watch the bridal shop scene as the camera slowly pans from the women—bride, bridesmaid, and Abby-- over to Jonathan in full apparel—bridesmaid apparel! Gottcha! And Jonathan's art with the amateurs is that they buy into this outrage without missing a beat or cracking a smile. He even gets the bridesmaid to feign anguish at the fact that Jonathan looks better than she does in her bridesmaid's dress. And we believe her! Amateurs under a less deft director would have dissolved into belly laughs. Not only does she play it straight. We believe her!
As for the happy couple's on-screen comedic chemistry, well, move over Burns and Allen; make way Ricky and Lucy. Here comes Adam and Jen. You'll just have to see it to believe it.
There are two things that remain the same in all that the Cruse brothers produce: It's always excellent, and it's never the same. The Wedding: Another must see. And don't log out early. The closing scene is the crowning gem.
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