Dear The Wedding Invitation,
We need to talk.
It’s not you, it’s me. I really wanted to like you. You promised to be the plucky brave little crowd-funded movie that could. But… you know, I’ve seen The New Girl and Sex in the City and I’ve seen a whole bunch of films with the word “Wedding” in the title. You didn’t do much to differentiate yourself. Your characters are as off-the-shelf as your boilerplate script ever so slightly updated to include the word “Facebook” and a guy with a man-bun.
“Your heart is in the right place, sending 5% of your profits to women’s charities. I also like that you are a movie for women by women.”
We are weary of watching beautiful people whine about not being attractive or appealing enough. You live in Los Angeles, the world capital of superficial shallowness. Beautiful people having trouble finding a date to the prom (wedding) is not a thing.
Oh and you do look good. Your production values are right on the mark, your soundtrack is sharp, and you show an impressive level of polish for an independent film. I respect you for that! Your heart is in the right place, sending 5% of your profits to women’s charities. I also like that you are a movie for women by women. You are great on paper.
Lucy (Rainy Kerwin) is working for and dating Marcus. The night she thinks he’ll propose he breaks up with her instead. Rather than basing her assessment of her relationship on the actual relationship, she’s clinging to an antiquated formula that X years of dating should translate to a proposal. At the beginning we are led to believe that the eponymous wedding invitation will be to her wedding. Alas, it’s not to be. Marcus breaks with her and fires her from her job. Instead of focusing on the legal and social hellfire that should rain down on the a*****e for that dick move, Lucy chooses to weather the storm and re-orient her life through horrifyingly vapid social media aphorisms. The most important (really?) question for her during this time of chaos becomes which hot guys she and her two friends will take to the wedding-of-the-century-sort-of-thing. I can’t even.
“…I think we should see other movies.”
The men in the movie aren’t people, they are cardboard cutout placeholders: “Hot musician guy,” “raw dog goofy sports fan,” “chill guy who owns the bar,” and so on. Fair play: this happens in mainstream films with female characters all the time, so turnabout,etc. It’s not a huge issue but the film would have been more fun and engaging if they’d been more developed characters.
It’s probably just me… you weren’t made for me. Even so these ostensibly adult women with experience in the world should have relationship savvy and realistic expectations. None of the single women I know would have given a fig about finding just the right guy to take to the 80’s prom themed wedding for the sake of appearances. They’d have worn outfits that made them happy, danced, and drank their faces off without a second thought for anything but having fun and celebrating the couple getting married.
The Wedding Invitation, you are inoffensive, even delightful at times, but ultimately kind of dull. I hope to see more from your director, Rainy Kerwin. She has real talent despite this one being too formulaic.
In the meantime, I think we should see other movies.
The Wedding Invitation (2017) Written, directed, and starring Rainy Kerwin. Also starring Camille Guaty, Christina Ulloa, Eoin Macken.
6 out of 10
