By Lilly Price | Reporter
“Love, Wedding, Repeat” is a new romantic comedy that was released to Netflix on April 10, chronicling the adventures and mishaps of a glamorous wedding.
The movie follows the typical Netflix algorithm for casting, which includes a few A list actors and a relatively unknown supporting cast. Because this movie follows multiple people and several different love connections, the casting felt sincere and unrecognizable from other films.
Sam Claflin, known for his role in “Catching Fire,” and actress Olivia Munn from “X-Men: Apocalypse,” starred as one of the couples. While their story was sweet, the chemistry between the two wasn’t believable. Claflin is the supportive brother of the bride, while Munn plays the journalist friend of the bride, who recently broke up with her boyfriend. Because the two characters share very little prior interaction, the charm seems forced.
On a slightly unrelated note, I hope you will also enjoy the tragedy that is Claflin’s haircut.
It was a rocky start to be sure, but Joel Fry from the film “Yesterday,” who plays the bride’s ‘maid-of-honor,’ Bryan, had me laughing multiple times in this wedding mishap of a film. I certainly wish they had given him more air time.
The age old problem with large cast films is that it’s very difficult to manage each storyline. Giving the characters any sort of meaningful character development outside of something pretty linear becomes a huge challenge to fit within a movie that’s less than two hours. Many times in the movie, this was the case. There were a couple of characters and problems that seemed to be thought of at the last minute, and just thrown in. Without them, the movie would’ve been just as enjoyable, maybe more.
However, this movie has a few unexpected plot twists. Halfway through the movie, the story rewinds to the start and an alternative version of the events occurs. Because the events in this film take place in one day, this change proved to be effective and prevented the plot from becoming stagnant and boring.
Another pleasant surprise was the movie’s soundtrack. Because the setting is a castle-like manor in Italy, most of the music is classical, which compliments the scenery while also juxtaposing the chaotic characters.
”Love, Wedding, Repeat” certainly isn’t an award-winning film, but that’s not really it’s purpose in the first place. This is where Netflix and it’s lighter genres tend to thrive. They’re the type of movies that don’t take very long to film and produce, but still do well on the platform because they’re fun, approachable and don’t require too much thought or analysis.
These days, I think that’s exactly the type of movie people want to watch. So if you’re able to kick back, relax and not worry about an Oscar nomination, this movie is a lot of fun.
