Is
giving “The Big Wedding” faint praise such as it was better than
expected a positive or negative? Is saying that parts are better than
the whole damning it? In any case can anyone explain how Katherine Heigl
and Amanda Seyfried keep on getting lead roles in big films?

“The
Big Wedding” takes on so many stories that all get lost. This is a
movie for people who think old folks having sex is funny and Robert De
Niro getting punched by everyone and anyone will just crack you up. We
have De Niro, divorced from Diane Keaton with whom he had 2 children and
an adopted child, living with Susan Sarandon for 8 years and, oh yes,
Keaton and Sarandon were best friends when they met De Niro and now
since their adopted child, Ben Barnes, is getting married to Seyfried
and his natural mother is coming from Columbia, and she being a devout
Catholic, Keaton and De Niro have to make believe they are still
married. Whew! Did you get that because we are just starting. Seyfried’s
mother, Christine Ebersole, has a ‘thing’ for Sarandon and Keaton, not
to mention plastic surgery, whileher father, David Rasche, is bankrupt
and in trouble with Wall Street.

Barnes
and Heigl’s brother, Topher Grace, is a 29 year old doctor who is a
virgin while Barnes sister, Ana Ayora,  comes to the wedding with her
mother, and in their first scene together Ana dives into the lake for a
nude swim making sure Topher sees her first and then he wonders, for not
too long, if it would be incestuous for them to have sex. Was it
mentioned that Heigl and her husband have just separated when the movie
opens? Barnes and Ayora’s mother, Patricia Rae, who doesn’t speak
English, has a life of her own that comes out of nowhere. Wait! Almost
forgot Robin Williams, the priest, who doesn’t have any kind of sex, as
far as the script goes.

Susan
Sarandon and Diane Keaton comes through unscathed and even add to the
picture, the former with her red hair and looking good while the latter
still has that impish Annie Hall look. De Niro comes through with a very
effective scene late in the movie and, obviously worked out for the
bedroom scene. Ben Barnes is very impressive in looks and what little
chance he gets to acts as is Topher Grace.

The
screenplay, and direction, by Justin Zackham is a mess though the
locations in Connecticut are beautiful. The movie is Rated “R” for good
reason and if you are the type who smirks at sex scenes, or language,
this is your film.