Rent Love Wedding Marriage (2011)

Love Wedding Marriage review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

Eva, who was inspired by the strength of her parent’s relationship to become a marriage counsellor, finds her world ripped apart when shortly before their 30th anniversary her parents announce that they are splitting up.

Mandy Moore plays Eva, the newly wed marriage counsellor who’s faith in marriage in shaken by her parent’s unexpected news and decides to dedicate herself to reuniting them. What follows is an unoriginal romantic comedy that rather lacks any genuine romance or humour.

This is not solely down to the choice of actor turned director Demort Mulroney to cast Moore in the lead role, as her supporting cast, including Jane Seymour as her mother and James Brolin as her father, also have very little interesting content to work with. Brolin’s character is a rather ridiculous Jewish stereotype that’s only out of character turn comes when he drunkenly stomps on a fish – and even this bizarre cruelty isn’t new to our screens, Seymour’s character on the other hand has the pleasure of enduring numerous terrible dates, including a hugely unimaginative speed dating montage that is painfully familiar.

Love, Wedding, Marriage is certainly not the worst romantic comedy I have seen in a while, for fans of the genre it ticks all the boxes and is likely to leave you with a satisfied – albeit forgettable – warm fuzzy feeling at the end. For the rest of us however it is hardly worth considering.