Review: Wedding Daze (2006)

I hated this film. It was appalling and I wanted to switch it off before the title sequence even began. The only reason I stayed was because it would have been rude of me to excuse myself from the company of my family, who wanted to keep watching this simply because they couldn't stand the argument of what to watch on Netflix again, which is what brought us here in the first place.

Wedding Daze stars Jason Biggs as a guy deeply in love with his girlfriend, and the film begins with him getting ready to propose to her in an over-the-top way with help from his best friend. While this is going on, the scene inter-cuts with scenes of the girlfriend waiting for Biggs (whose character I don't care enough about to remember the name of, just like all the characters in this film). The girlfriend gets seduced by a man working in the restaurant, which gets you thinking that just as Biggs is ready to propose, the girlfriend is going to run off with this new guy. Haha... heartbreak?

But no.

What actually happens is that Biggs, dressed as cupid, proposes to the girlfriend who drops dead in front of him from the shock. So... haha, death?

I'm not even joking. I thought the film was teasing us at first, but no, she is actually dead. It's very distasteful and poorly done, but then, that's how I would summarise the entire film itself.

We then endure a montage of Biggs being depressed over his girlfriends death, which is fair enough, except Netflix lists this film under four genres. Three of those genres are Comedies, Romantic Comedies and Late Night Comedies. Comedy, that genre designed to make you laugh. This is just miserable, depressing and awkward for me, at least because of how aware I was that this was supposed to be a comedy. So how do the other characters react to Biggs' trauma? Who characters surround themselves with, if anyone at all, says a lot about their own person after all. Well, Biggs here is with his best friend, who basically tells him to get over it and move on. I can't even begin to express my lack of disgust for this films lack of sympathy here. It was the sudden death of our protagonists girlfriend, a person he loved and wanted to marry. How on Earth is that at all funny?

I don't even want to talk about this film much longer, so I'm just going to cut to what I think is relevant to you. Isla Fisher is in this film as the new love interest for Biggs. After being encouraged by the same ghastly best friend of his to give romance another try, Biggs proposes to Fisher at the cafe where she works. It is revealed to the audience that Fisher had been proposed to the night before by her boyfriend, but she rejects him out of uncertain feelings. Somehow though, she feels like accepting this stranger is the right thing to do and therefore that is what she does. Clearly, she hasn't seen Orange is the New Black, or else she would know what an annoying sod she's stuck herself with.

Potentially controversial opinion time: I like Isla Fisher, but I am keen to know who this woman's agent is because Fisher's films are all over the place in terms of quality. She has starred in terrible, and often crude films such as this one, Hot Rod, Grimsby and Bachelorette and people still love her, when the only "good" films she has been in (that I have seen) are Nocturnal Animals and Definitely, Maybe (I would also add Scooby Doo for nostalgic reasons, but with adult eyes I am aware that this is actually not a good film). Yet she remains popular. Fisher's natural charm and ability as a sincerely good actress are definitely good causes for this. She doesn't get enough roles to showcase that and I think that is a real shame.

Anyway, back to the terrible film.

The pair argue and find conflicts with each other, as well as their mad, vile friends and parents. Somehow though, these two plucky kids manage to find love together, amongst setbacks such as Fisher's snotty nose, Biggs' genuinely disturbing mother threatening Fisher's life and mistaking a woman with a round stomach for being pregnant. On a more serious note, Biggs also feels guilty for moving on so fast from his dead girlfriend. The dead girlfriend as a ghost assures him eventually that she is okay because the guy who was seducing her at the restaurant killed himself after her death and they are now happily living together in the afterlife. So suicide is a joke now too.

I've missed out some boring or alarming subplots because I don't care and neither should you. This film was horrible and I blame mostly the script, but also the director. We have some good actors here. Why not make something good with them? I've already spent too much of my time on this, and it wasn't even a real chick flick.

THE SCOREBOARD

Chick Flick Check List Elements: 2, 4, 5, 7, 13, 15, 42, 45 (but only half a point as the heartbreak is from death, not cheating), 56.

Total: 8.5

Is this really a chick flick or will men like it too? I believe this was supposed to be a rom-com aimed for predominantly for men, but I don't see anyone enjoying this of any gender or age.

Would I recommend this film? Nope

Favourite quote: "It's over. It's finally over." - Me. Yes, this film is so bad, I can't even pick a memorable or likeable quote.

Film rating: 1/10