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Close on the heels of the French WEDDING comedy C’EST LA VIE (LE SENS DE LA FETE) arrives another, thankfully with a slightly different take on weddings.  ANOTHER KIND OF WEDDING (formerly entitled SOMEONE ELSE’S WEDDING) combines the wedding romantic comedy with the dysfunctional comedy/drama genres with an all-star ensemble cast headed by Kathleen Turner, who in her glory days captured the hearts of moviegoers with her best films like PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, BODY HEAT and WAR OF THE ROSES.   Pat Kiely directs from his own script.  Here, she is still her fiery self, spouting strong language.  Her date at the wedding is played by Wallace Shawn (THE PRINCESS BRIDE, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE) who looks better with age.

ANOTHER KIND OF WEDDING follows a fractured family as they are forced to confront what tore them apart at the eldest son’s wedding.  Matthew (Jacob Tierney) and Louisa (Jessica Parker Kennedy) are about to celebrate the biggest day of their lives, but fate has something else in store – the perfect venue in Montreal to hash out all family conflicts.  Matthew’s good looking, sleeping around stepbrother Kurt (Kevin Zegers) has gone to bed with a lot of ladies including the bride.  Trouble follows and stays!  As the film progresses, more skeletons come out of the closet.  Then, there is also enmity between the two mothers of the groom and bride.

It is good that Kiely’s script celebrates Canada in this Canadian film as opposed to many other Canadian films that pretend that it is set in the States for a larger target audience.  The wedding is held in Montreal and there are lot of Montreal streets and shops on show.  (The film is shot largely in Montreal.)  The script also pokes fun of the lesser known cities (“Who would want to spend a whole week in Kingston?) while praising others like those around the Georgian Lake area.

The film unfolds backwards occasionally to explain a set of circumstances.  Whether this tactic works depends on the individual.

The film’s comedy is not all that funny.  Quite a lot of the humour is laid on the Kathleen Turner character, with her rebuttals supposed to be biting, sarcastic and clever.  These do not always work.  The romantic comedy element does not work either, coming across as predictable as a Harlequin novel.  Of course, all works out at the end with the wedding as its climax.

The cast is diversified enough with Kathleen Turner getting top billing.  But she is reprising what she is famous in, from her past films, and she is clearly past her prime.  Kevin Zegers does a good though predictable turn as the wedding party’s main ass-hole, the one who has had a relationship, unknown to his brother with his bride earlier.

ANOTHER KIND OF WEDDING fails to be either a drama on the dysfunctional family or a romantic wedding comedy.  The film lingers in between both resulting in a mediocre forgettable film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2RHludA6c

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