And the Winner Is...
And the Winner Is...
An Announcement of the Winner of Wedding March Madness
Wuv. Twue Wuv.
Mawwiage is what bwings us togevah today, and also what has all month as Wedding March Madness has finally named the Best Arbitrarily-Chosen Wedding Film of All Time: The Princess Bride (1987). But let’s be real, it is an absolute banger and a classic for the ages.
There’s something that seems particularly and powerfully timeless about this very specifically 1980s film. It has so many trappings of a mid-budget 80s film with crisp delivery of dry humour played completely straight, visible hand-made sets and unaltered landscapes, ROUS puppetry of the finest order, a red dress a la Kate Bush 1978, the kid playing Hardball on a Commodore 64. Yet it still feels as though we were all that sick kid listening to a lovely story read to us by our favourite person. It’s chicken soup on film.
But maybe it isn’t necessarily timeless; maybe we’re just still in an era in which the cult classic is mainstream but will one day return to its cult following alone. With none other than the 70s icon Columbo himself (Peter Falk) as the grandfather; late-80s/early-90s The Wonder Years child star Fred Savage as the grandson; peak 80s wrestling star André the Giant as Fezzik; the immortal Billy Crystal and Carol Kane as Miracle Max and Valerie; the Broadway babe Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya; and Wallace Shawn – who was honoured with such close proximity to the iconic 90s line “it does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty” – as Vizzini; not to mention the stardom that would await the dynamic lovers Princess Buttercup and Westley (Robin Wright and Cary Elwes), maybe it’s just a film that won the nostalgia lottery.
The Princess Bride has unique cultural capital with touchstones for every generation of current adults (yes, including the top end of Gen Z). It is clearly still popular enough to win an arbitrary Twitter tournament at least, as were two other 80s films that made it to the semi-finals (The Muppets Take Manhattan and Coming to America). So, is it that these films have staying power in their own right or is it that there is still a cultural relevancy alive and well for those taking part in the poll?
Before you finish sharpening your pitchforks, I do think there’s something particularly human about The Princess Bride that will endure. It’s funny, it’s charming, it’s got sports in it, fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles. It’s everything Peter Falk promises and more because it’s framed so lovingly as a story to pass down to your loved ones when they’re incapable of such adventures of their own. It highlights the beauty of reading and a tenderly masculine appreciate for kissing books. It is, as Columbo says, “a very special [film].”
So, good shout. I agree. What a class wedding film to be crowned the best. I am in the midst of an extreme schedule and will be as I chip away at my drafted-but-not-finished PhD thesis over the next two weeks. Please forgive me while I take a bit of a break from Review Roulette to focus on that and I promise to be back as soon as I can with a fresh review of another 20th century banger.
Wuv to you all.