There are plenty of romantic comedy movies that use a gimmick to make themselves more appealing apart from the love story. Events that take place in a single day is one of those popular gimmicks with a story that often gets pretty strange and wild as the plot unfolds, and which is sometimes incredibly effective. Though other times, not quite.
Written and directed by Dean Craig, Love. Wedding. Repeat is a new British rom-com on Netflix that deals with the power of chance and alternative versions of the same day unfolding. Sam Claflin's character Jack tries to make sure his little sister Hayley (Eleanor Tomlinson) has the perfect wedding day. At Hayley's beautiful ceremony held in Italy, Jack unexpectedly reunites with Dina (Olivia Munn), the girl of his dreams who got away three years earlier. And while Jack tries to rekindle the old flame, he'll also have to juggle a parade of weird people and uninvited guests, and try the best he can to keep the wedding from falling apart. The film also stars Joel Fry, Freida Pinto, Jack Farthing, Tim Key and Allan Mustafa.
Love. Wedding. Repeat brings in the interesting concept of how one little choice can potentially change your whole life. The movie is filled with socially-awkward comedy from all these goofy characters and their own eccentric attitudes to the wedding. Even with the jealous ex-girlfriend, the cokehead ex-boyfriend and the weird friend who never stops spouting dirty jokes, the film feels like a missed opportunity with a story that isn't strong enough to carry us through.
Instead of getting to the point, the movie often spends too much time on the side stories and unnecessary silly scenes that are intended to make you cringe or hide your face in your hands through a series of awkward, uncomfortable jokes. It also took over a good hour before the movie got into the main storyline, or the concept of repeating the day, the so-called reset button that rewinds the movie all the way to the point where the wedding is about to start. We get to see what would happen if each character sat in different places and the different outcomes of the story. Honestly, this change comes a little too late, so much so that I had lost interest. Especially after the second act where it started to lose its appeal and get a bit predictable. It didn't go completely downhill, but kind of decreased in quality as the film went on.
Overall Love. Wedding. Repeat is a confident rom-com that features a fun train wreck of a story, a nice group of crazy characters, and an intriguing idea at the centre of everything, but the movie also has difficulties getting all the wheels into motion. It ends up being a compilation of underdeveloped subplots, many of which are not even enough for the actors to go on. I feel as if this movie was a missed opportunity, one that could have been executed better. It's a good effort but at the end of the day it just didn't come together.
- Love. Wedding. Repeat
- Starring Sam Claflin, Eleanor
- Tomlinson, Olivia Munn, Joel Fry, Freida Pinto
- Directed by Dean Craig
- Now streaming on Netflix
