DVD Review: Kiss the Bride

Movie Info:
Writer:Tyler Lieberman
Director: C. Jay Cox
Cast: Tori Spelling, Philipp Karner, James O’Shea, Joanna Cassidy, Garrett M. Brown, Tess Harper, Robert Foxworth, E.E. Bell, Amber Benson, Steve Sandvoss
Rating: R
Studio: Liberation Entertainment

Release Info:
DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $22.49

When I was a teenager I loved watching Beverly Hills 90210. There were my favorite characters like Brandon and Dylan, the ones I could tolerate like Steve and Kelli, and the ones that I could laugh at, namely Donna. Ah, Tori Spelling has become quite the talk of the town when it comes to prestigious acting. She has everything anyone could ever want.

Good ol’ Tori has two forms of direction (erratic and one dimensional), she’s untalented, and she’s annoying. Most importantly, no matter what she is in you know that you won’t see the character, but instead, a big ball of Tori. I know whenever I see her in something I will be getting a good dose of her and not much of anything else. I was hoping something good would come of this movie, dubbed the equivalent of a gay My Best Friend’s Wedding. However, deep down I think I knew not to expect too much.

There is plenty of opportunity here. There is potential abounding from all over the place. However, all of the potential that was available was squandered on a terrible cast, which was headed up by Tori Spelling. The setup for a romantic comedy is generally a simple format. Still, the perfect cast must be used otherwise a perfect train wreck will ensue. That’s pretty much what happened here. Things start out okay for a while, but then they become incredibly absurd which is in no way helped by the fabulous acting skills of people not cut out for the roles that they have been given.

It’s a pretty sad affair, if you ask me. Perhaps I am setting my sights too high for an independent feature. Of course, I am a huge fan of many independent productions and hold them to the same standard as every other film that I review. It’s not the effects or the money that make a film what it should be. The things that really count are the acting quality and the story. If you have both of those, no matter how big your budget is, you will have a hit on your hands. If you need an example look to Clerks. Kevin Smith made it for next to nothing and it is a cult favorite (and overall excellent movie) to this day. It’s an amazing film. Of course, as I recall, it was also a film that lacked Spelling. Whether that is a coincidence or not, I cannot say.

Still I want to feel bad for the filmmakers, C. Jay Cox and Tyler Lieberman. Maybe they didn’t realize that things would turn out so bad with the cast that they picked. Then again, maybe they are dyslexic like Donna Martin was and they picked the wrong cast, thinking it was the right one. Donna used to get mixed up a lot, which is why they let her have longer time on tests. The moral of the story is next time the filmmakers shouldn’t rush through these decisions and maybe they will end up making the right choices instead. I think these guys have promise though. I would watch another of their films, permitting Tori was not included.

This lighthearted, easy on intelligence, uneven romantic comedy will suit the needs of some, though it will indeed be a rare few. It’s possible that it could be rent worthy, but even then I would advise extreme caution. I mean really, why waste a dollar in this economy if you don’t have to? Sometimes it might be worth it, but in this case it’s probably not.

The Kiss the Bride Plot
Like I said earlier, Kiss the Bride is sort of the homosexual equivalent of My Best Friend’s Wedding. Things start off with Matt and Ryan who were best friends (lovers) in high school. Flash forward ten years and Ryan is getting married. Meanwhile, Matt has been pining away for Ryan the entire time. He dates plenty of other men and lives a good life, but nothing compares to the time he spent with Ryan back in high school. When Matt receives an invite to Ryan’s wedding it’s hard to see what he is more shocked over; the fact that Ryan is marrying someone or the fact that it’s a girl.

So, Matt packs his bags and heads back home to break up a wedding to make sure that his old flame doesn’t make a huge mistake. He thinks that some crazed woman has possessed him and is tricking him into getting married. Little does he know his old flame is marrying a perky, cheerleader type (a la Cameron Diaz) named Alex (Spelling). She likes him from the start, but then she’s about to marry someone that had a past that she apparently doesn’t know about.

Matt spends his time trying to remind Ryan of all of the good times that they shared. Ryan spends the days leading up to his wedding reminding himself and Matt that there is nothing else between them. You know how it is. Things like this happen in high school all the time (at least in the movies). Naturally, if Matt let things go, at this point, it wouldn’t be much of a movie. He still thinks that Ryan is the great love of his life and does what he can to stop the wedding while attempting to ignore Alex and her need to be his best friend.

Before the end of the film, everyone has a few secrets come out and some serious decisions will need to be made by all involved. The men will have to make a decision about what to do about their feelings and the audience will have to wonder what the hell Matt is doing and why he goes the route that he does to get whatever it is he wants.

The storyline starts out alright, but it soon gets more outlandish than necessary. At one point, the relationship between Alex and Matt becomes cozy enough for them to kiss. Why a gay man who is in love with another man would kiss a girl is beyond me. While this could have been funny, the acting chops of these performers are a little lower on the scale, which makes the moment awkward and rather pointless. When this film is being not funny even though it’s supposed to be it’s taking itself too seriously. This is another huge mistake from which Kiss the Bride never really recovers.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
Kiss the Bride is given a fair shot, at least visually, with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and anamorphic widescreen. The results are not absolutely fabulous, but they are better than if they had used a lesser video quality. Some minor issues do arise such as minor blurring around the edges and some aliasing issues. These are noticeable, but not entirely distracting. The colors are well done and the picture is clear otherwise. All in all, this could have been much worse.

The audio is handled with the option of Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital Stereo. Both options are acceptable, though 5.1 offers the better sound quality. The sound is consistent for the most part, even though it is not overly dynamic. The sound is perfect for the needs of the film. The music tunes in nicely and is at an equal range of the dialogue so no volume toggling is needed. It has small issues, but it comes out just a bit better than the visual effects.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Luckily (at least for me) there aren’t too many special features available for Kiss the Bride. Had their been more, I might have begun to cry. Of course, there probably wasn’t much that they could come up with considering this wasn’t much of a movie to begin with. Things get rolling with your standard commentary. This isn’t anything that is an absolute must listen to, though if you liked the movie you might want to check this out. Additional commentary is available with the small selection of deleted scenes. I would say these deserved watching if the film had been worthwhile, but these are just more of the same. The only difference is that this fluff didn’t make it into the film. The only other features is a backlot featurette, a trailer, and a photo gallery.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
I cannot in good conscious recommend this movie to anyone. While the possibilities were great here nothing was done worth watching. The storyline ended up being ridiculous, the acting ran on two channels (sub-par and bad), and nothing seemed to go right from beginning to end. If you want to see a good movie there are thousands of them out there, but this romantic comedy is one that you should definitely run away from. Save your time and find something decent to watch.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: DVD, Kiss the Bride, Liberation Films, Tori Spelling, Philipp Karner, James O’Shea, Joanna Cassidy, Garrett M. Brown, Tess Harper, Bad Movie, Romantic Comedy, Film Review

If you like this site, Donate to help keep us going!

---------------------
Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.