OUR FAMILY WEDDING
(PG-13)
MOVIE: *1/2 (out of 5)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Marcus and Lucia are in love, and they are planning to get married. However, the biggest challenge will be not only telling their families of their plans, but to bridge the racial gap between Marcus’s African American family and Lucia’s Mexican one. The fathers (Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and Academy Award watcher Carlos Mencia) are at each other’s throats, and their feud threatens to tear the families apart before they get together.
WHAT I LIKED
I will admit there are some funny moments to “Our Family Wedding.” And Forest Whitaker is a fine actor, though he definitely seems to be slumming it a bit in this movie. All in all, it’s a decent cast without a whole lot to do.
With all that said, from a technical side, the movie looks really great. And getting a chance to watch it on Blu-ray helped me appreciate the production value that went into it.
Finally, my wife is a fan of romantic comedies, and she loves the Steve Martin “Father of the Bride” movies. She’s a better judge than me for the target market. She thought it was decent, and I heard her laugh quite a few times in it.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I am neither African American nor Mexican, so I have no idea whether “Our Family Wedding” is an accurate representation of ethnic wedding traditions, or if it’s just loaded with awful racial stereotypes that are considered okay because of the minorities that made the movie. Either way, they really lay this stuff on really thick. And the apparent racial divide between the fathers is really forced.
Normally, I can’t stand Carlos Mencia, but he’s not terrible in this movie. Unfortunately, he’s not great in the movie either. And while it has a fine cast, the writing isn’t there for them. Too many scenes (involving bad slapstick with Mencia in a gadgety bathroom and a horny goat that takes too much Viagra) are forced and seem out of place.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The package includes a digital copy disc and some decent Blu-ray special features. There’s a huge slate of deleted and extended scenes, including a slightly different ending. There’s also a gag reel and a featurette about several aspects of the film, “Til Dads Do Use Part.”
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Carlos Mencia fans and those who don’t mind awkward racial humor.