Wedding March Madness – A Crowd-Sourced Post
Here we are, about to announce the Quarter Finalists of the Wedding March Madness Bracket and I am having thoughts. As I am currently the busiest I have ever been, I have thrown it to my Twitter friends and followers for our first ever crowd-sourced post on what we think makes a good wedding film and which is our personal best. But first, because I’m never done when I say I am, my own thoughts.
Vaughn (@gvaughnjoy) – Personally, a good wedding film is one that captures something beautiful about romantic love while questioning whether marriage is a necessary component of it. I was thoroughly surprised by just how tenderly and thoughtfully this was done in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). The most romantic, healthiest, most powerfully conveyed love in the film was portrayed by a couple who were legally barred from the institution of marriage because of that most wholistic love.
My favourite wedding film, though, is The Wedding Singer (1998). I think this film does a profound job in questioning why someone would get married at all. The five main and supporting characters all have different views on marriage and weddings that develop over the course of the film through direct answers to the question “why are you marrying [x]?” There’s a real power to the direct question and I think for a comedy from which you wouldn’t expect much beyond the many laughs provided, you can really come away with many much more insightful ideas about love, marriage, aging, and the purpose of a wedding ceremony.
@EugeneBWhitaker – Monsoon Wedding (2001) is a beautiful look at a different culture for most of us. Mira Noor is woefully underappreciated; it’s also a great story. Crossing Delancey (1988) is an 80s film focusing on non-traditional leads and Jewish marriage and the use of a yente. Crossing Delancey has some of my faves that don't get as much attention (Amy Irving, Peter Reigert, Olympia Dukakis) and is a beautiful slice of (80s) life that most folk still don't know much about (being a mostly secular Jew in America)
@LindaRMonkJD – Steel Magnolias, because it perfectly captures the Southern ultra of weddings, married with a tragicomedy and great actresses: Julia, Dolly, Olympia, Sally, Darryl, Shirley. Dolly has some fab one-liners, it was Julia's first big hit, and the ensemble is amazing.
If you have any more thoughts, please add them below!
As promised, here are our Quarter Finalist matchups:
The Wedding Singer (1998) vs. Coming to America (1988)
Father of the Bride (1991) vs. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) vs. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Princess Bride (1987) vs. Palm Springs (2020)