'The Decoy Bride' really disappointed me. I'm a fan of David Tennant and I've seen a few Kelly MacDonald films and enjoyed them. This film is the template on how a bad film should be made, the sad thing is I think the people involved in this really thought it was a good idea.
Acting-wise there is only a handful of people who act okay. Alice Eve's American accent slips and her real British accent is revealed on more than one occasion. Kelly MacDonald did not excel herself in this picture, her acting was wooden and it seemed as if she was trying too hard to be interesting and funny, it simply didn't work. James Fleet was surprisingly the best in it despite only having three lines and being in two scenes! David Tennant's acting is good but nothing fantastic, he like Kelly MacDonald, can do so much better. Both of them are so much better than this film. The two assistants played by Michael Urie and Sally Phillips are simply awful, the don't provide any comic effect and just make you wish you had never even bothered watching the film.
The script and plot were the main reason the film flopped, you can't blame the actors for all of this film's faults. There are some really simple plot holes that irritate you when watching like why, at the start, do Tennant and Eve not simply get married after the Italian photographer has left? The whole plot is based on a hunch, they never double-check to see if MacDonald did sign her own name on the register. The dialogue is wooden and awkward in a lot of scenes, the jokes are rarely funny though there are some that can provoke a little giggle here and there. If you have ever seen Father Ted, this film will remind you a lot of that TV series, they portray the island as hopeless, baron and draconian, with odd inhabitants who are all at least 70.
Overall, I would not recommend this film at all. 15 minutes in, I wanted to stop watching. It's predictable, ridiculous and boring. Even if you are a fan of David Tennant, Kelly MacDonald or romantic comedies, you should avoid this film at all costs.
Acting-wise there is only a handful of people who act okay. Alice Eve's American accent slips and her real British accent is revealed on more than one occasion. Kelly MacDonald did not excel herself in this picture, her acting was wooden and it seemed as if she was trying too hard to be interesting and funny, it simply didn't work. James Fleet was surprisingly the best in it despite only having three lines and being in two scenes! David Tennant's acting is good but nothing fantastic, he like Kelly MacDonald, can do so much better. Both of them are so much better than this film. The two assistants played by Michael Urie and Sally Phillips are simply awful, the don't provide any comic effect and just make you wish you had never even bothered watching the film.
The script and plot were the main reason the film flopped, you can't blame the actors for all of this film's faults. There are some really simple plot holes that irritate you when watching like why, at the start, do Tennant and Eve not simply get married after the Italian photographer has left? The whole plot is based on a hunch, they never double-check to see if MacDonald did sign her own name on the register. The dialogue is wooden and awkward in a lot of scenes, the jokes are rarely funny though there are some that can provoke a little giggle here and there. If you have ever seen Father Ted, this film will remind you a lot of that TV series, they portray the island as hopeless, baron and draconian, with odd inhabitants who are all at least 70.
Overall, I would not recommend this film at all. 15 minutes in, I wanted to stop watching. It's predictable, ridiculous and boring. Even if you are a fan of David Tennant, Kelly MacDonald or romantic comedies, you should avoid this film at all costs.