Kiss the Bride (2007)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

C. Jay Cox

Writer:

Tyler Lieberman (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Guess who's coming out for the wedding?

Plot:

In high school, Matt and Ryan were best friends. More than friends, actually. But in the ensuing ten years...

Plot Keywords:

Love | High School | Wedding | Former Lover | Mother Son Relationship

Cast

Tori Spelling	...	Alex
Philipp Karner	...	Matt
James O'Shea	...	Ryan
Joanna Cassidy	...	Evelyn
Garrett M. Brown	...	Gerald
Tess Harper	...	Barbara
Robert Foxworth	...	Wayne
E.E. Bell	...	Dan
Amber Benson	...	Elly
Steve Sandvoss	...	Sean
Michael Medico	...	Chris
Jane Cho	...	Stephanie
Ralph Cole Jr.	...	Barry
Brooke Dillman	...	Virginia
Dean McDermott	...	Plumber

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Shadow Factory

Quotes:

Barbara: [speaking to her ex-husband about her new husband] What's the matter, Wayne? Are you jealous?
Wayne: Jealous? I don't even know the meaning of the word.
Barbara: Yeah? You don't know the meaning of LOTS of words.

Soundtrack:

Broken Heart

Wow...as in "Wow, that was really bad and hard to watch".

This is an oft-used line, but it really sums up this movie..."If this is the current state of gay cinema, then we're in real trouble". I saw this film at SIFF because of the high IMDb rating (7.6) and if there was ever a case of vote stacking on IMDb, then this is it. Just watch the number fall over the release weeks of the film.

Easy plot...Boy finds out his high school ex (boyfriend) is getting married to a female friend of theirs so he goes back to his old hometown (still carrying a 10 year old torch) to see what happened.

First off, I liked "Latter Days", the director's last feature, despite its cookie cutter characters and plot contrivances, but you're supposed to become a better director with each subsequent release. I don't know how you get horrible supporting performances out of so many TV veterans (Robert Foxworth, Joanna Cassidy, Tori Spelling), but somehow he managed to. The writing was Lifetime Network quality (way back when they were REALLY bad) and the situations were unbelievable AND uncomfortably hard to watch. I kept reaching for a non-existent remote control to fast forward, but ultimately made myself stay to the end, hoping for a decent ending. Ugh...no. Even the gratuitous male nudity that popped up during the movie was so blatantly gratuitous that it seemed to be there to keep people in their seats.

To be fair...the 2 leads, especially in the gratuitous nude scenes, were gorgeous. There was also a real sweetness between them during their rekindling friendship as they uncovered how they went separate ways. And the film looked great...good quality and color saturation for an independent film.

How is it that network TV can give week after week of great, entertaining weekly episodes (Like "Ugly Betty", "Desp. Housewives", etc.), but so many feature releases in similar genres can be as bad as this?