Wedding Wars (2006) (TV)

Director:

Jim Fall

Writer (WGA):

Stephen Mazur (written by)

Release Date:

11 December 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

His brother is out. His wedding is off. The war is on.

Plot:

After a gay party planner discovers his brother is behind the governor's speech against gay marriage, he decides to go on strike for equal rights.

Plot Keywords:

Strike | Gay Marriage | Equal Rights | Wedding | Gay Rights

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Stamos	...	Shel Grandy
Eric Dane	...	Ben Grandy
Bonnie Somerville	...	Maggie Welling
Sean Maher	...	Ted Moore
Rosemary Dunsmore	...	Claire Welling
Jayne Eastwood	...	Wanda Grandy
Linda Kash	...	Mrs. Fairfield
Sean McCann	...	Verne Grandy
James Brolin	...	Governor Conrad Welling
Lee Smart	...	Casper Tisdale
Doug Barron	...	Matt Wildman
Suzanne Hawkins	...	Katie Gonzales
Rejean Cournoyer	...	Ken Caldwell
John Beale	...	News Show Host
Matt Gordon	...	Wayne

Also Known As:

Wedding March (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Company:

Storyline Entertainment

Goofs:

Continuity: During the first scene of Shel picketing in front of the Governor's house, one side of the the home-made sign he is carrying reads "Vote for Conrad Welling" and the other side, facing the street, reads "Strike for Gay Marriage." In the subsequent picketing scenes, both sides of the sign read the latter message.

Movie Connections:

References Ben (1972)

Soundtrack:

Cannon

A Touching Story of Two Brothers...

At first glance, one might think this is a purely gay movie. If you define a gay movie as the presence of gays and gay relationships, then it might be, as you define it. But actually it is more than that. Wedding wars is one heck of a wholesome and sensible film with a nice story, an excellent script, and a good direction and music.

Wedding wars tells of the wedding of Ben and Maggie and the preparations attendant to it. While it may be said that the theme of the movie is all about wedding preparations, the film actually focused on politics and brother-to-brother relationships and how these affected the wedding plans.

Ben and Shel are close brothers since childhood who drifted apart when Shel confessed that he is gay. Shel thereafter pursued a party-planning career and met his lover Ted who is an Assistant District Attorney at Maine. Ben, on the other hand, became the campaign manager for Governor Welling who is running for reelection at Maine. In this career he met the Governor's daughter, Maggie whom he is now marrying.

In the course of their discussions about their impending wedding, Maggie suggested that Shel be their wedding planner. Despite Ben's hesitations, Maggie prevailed and so Ben visited his gay brother, Shel who, upon learning of Maggie's request, immediately accepted the responsibility. Everything about the wedding preparations is going well as the couple-to-be and Shel really starts bonding until the incumbent Governor Welling, who, ever since, did not oppose gay relationships, made a surprising political stand on television that he is supporting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages – with a view to gaining popularity in time for his reelection bid. Incidentally, the author of that speech is none other than Ben. Shel, upon learning this, became so disgusted with his own brother that he declared a strike and picketed at the gate of the Governor's residence just two weeks before the wedding. "Why can he plan for Ben's wedding while Shel, on his part, can never ever make plans for his own wedding someday?" The characters of the story became divided as Maggie and her Mom practically sided with Shel understanding perfectly how he felt about Ben and Maggie's father.

How far this situation will take all of them is the very meat of the story. Suffice to say that I admired the movie for its lack of pretenses. It is full of love, understanding, honesty, and a heart for others. Although the plot of the story is simple, the issues involved are of significant magnitude as it touched on political and social issues transcending beyond personal and familial matters. I really liked the way that wedding changed things for the characters…