LOVE, WEDDINGS & OTHER DISASTERS (2020)
Starring Diane Keaton, Jeremy Irons, Maggie Grace, Diego Boneta, Andrew Bachelor, Andy Goldenberg, Melinda Hill, Caroline Portu, Jesse McCartney, JinJoo Lee, Rachel Wirtz, Veronica Ferres, Dennis Staroselsky, Todd Stashwick, Abbey Dubin, William Xifaras, Chandra West, Richard Kline, Elle King, Keaton Simons and Dennis Dugan.
Screenplay by Dennis Dugan.
Directed by Dennis Dugan.
Distributed by Saban Films. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13.
While Diane Keaton has been in more of her fair share of god-awful comedies over the years – Because I Said So or Poms, anyone? – it is still kind of disheartening to see such a wonderful, eccentric talent as Keaton stuck in crap like Love, Weddings & Other Disasters.
At least Keaton has a relatively smallish role in this ensemble misfire, and her character – a sightless woman who is set up on a blind date (blind date, get it?) with a stuffy, OCD-afflicted caterer to the stars (Jeremy Irons) – is one of the less annoying characters in the film. Still, she (and Irons, for that matter) are way too good as actors to be stuck in a stink bomb like this.
Disasters is probably the defining word in the title of this cheeseball, silly rom-com. Figuratively, of course, but also literally.
We are introduced to Jessie (Maggie Grace), a young wannabe wedding planner, while her boyfriend is dumping her in the middle of a skydive, of all times. Of course, they end up crash landing in the middle of an outdoor wedding, and a video of Jessie knocking the bride and groom into a lake goes viral immediately, to the point when a mere day later, everyone in the world (it seems) recognizes her as the “Wedding Trasher” from Instagram.
It’s bad timing, because Jessie is up for her dream job, planning the wedding for the potential future mayor of Boston. The future politico is afraid Jessie will be too much bad publicity, but his bride-to-be takes a liking to the cute wedding planner. Jessie befriends a cute singer (Diego Bonita) who she wants to play the wedding, but the guy’s band is falling apart because his partner (Jesse McCartney) is falling for a cute new guitarist.
In the meantime, the future mayor’s loser brother (Andy Goldenberg) signs up for perhaps the slimiest reality game show ever, where the contestants must find love by being chained to the other person for days on end. His partner in the show is a pretty Russian lawyer (Melinda Hill) who turns out to be a stripper (don’t ask…)
And did I forget the Captain of the local duck boat tour (Andrew Bachelor) who spends the entire film looking for a Cinderella fan at a bachelorette party who left her glass slipper on the tour boat? Yeah, I almost did.
There are more characters and stories strewn about in Love, Weddings & Other Disasters, but believe it or not they are even less interesting, and less likable.
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters is essentially an overlong sitcom, and not a good one at that.
Sadly, you can’t expect much more from a film by Dennis Dugan, who was a decent enough light actor in the 1970s and 1980s, but since the 1990s has made a living directing some of the worst movies ever, including several starring his friend Adam Sandler.
If possible, Love, Weddings and Other Disasters misses Sandler’s subtle humor (I was being ironic there…). This may not be Dennis Dugan’s worst film (although it may, there is just so much competition for the title), but that’s hardly a selling point. Avoid this movie like the disaster it is.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2021 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: February 4, 2021.