Los Angeles Times Review

By Kevin Thomas, Special to The Times

Bruce Leddy's "The Wedding Weekend" is a lively comedy about a group of college buddies, members of an a cappella group, who reunite 15 years after graduation to sing at one member of the group's wedding. The reunion, at a rambling, shingled Queen Anne cottage in the Hamptons, causes the guys to reflect on the passage of time and illustrates that the world wasn't theirs for the taking, as they believed at the time of their graduation.

Leddy, himself a member of an a cappella group in college, covers familiar territory (think "The Big Chill") with a light touch. "The Wedding Weekend" is a familiar type of picture: the sophisticated New York independent production featuring a seasoned cast of actors better known from stage and TV than the big screen — indeed, there is a bit of a sitcom "feel" to the film. But it is a breezy, well-paced diversion, amusing rather than scintillating yet clearly personal, showing that Leddy is wise enough not to overreach; he does not lose sight that he is making a comedy even in its more serious moments.

The friends have gathered the weekend before the wedding. Their story unfolds from the point of view of David (David Harbour), a man of 37 overwrought by the discovery of his first gray hair and the possibility of receding at the temples. He and his pals are all overcome by the prospect of looming middle age, and they fret over their professional or personal lives, or both, not being all they expected — like countless other American men who've reached their mid-30s without having grown up.

The women in their lives, being more adult, tend to be hard-pressed. Trish (Molly Shannon, perhaps the most familiar member of the ensemble cast), reacting to her stale marriage to Ted (Alexander Chaplin), an uptight investment counselor, is given to blunt sexual remarks. But it is David's lovely, intelligent wife, Dana (Rosemarie DeWitt), who puts everything in perspective, telling the grousing males that their problems are nothing when compared with the effects of, say, child abuse or cancer. In doing so, Dana brings a refreshing awareness of the larger world to a group of exceedingly self-absorbed individuals.

One couple brings along a sexy, young Swedish nanny (a sly Camilla Thorsson), who creates quite a stir among the men.

The actors are well cast and effective. As a film, "The Wedding Weekend," shot on location, is as attractive as its cast.

MovieWeb

This comedy will have you chuckling from start to finish. It's about a group of men who sang a capella together in college. Now, fifteen years later, they are reuniting at the request of one of their friends who wants them to sing at his wedding. It's been fifteen years and the guys have changed. Some are married, divorced, parents, worried about receding hairlines, apprehensive about having children, and generally just trying to get on with their lives the best they can.

When they get together at a home in the Hamptons to "rehearse" for a few days before the big event, they strengthen the bond they shared in college. With wives, girlfriends, a baby, a nanny, and whatever baggage they all bring, this is a reunion that will have audiences laughing. It's an updated version of "The Big Chill" for this generation. However the added element of the songs brings a fresh dimension to the movie. Granted, the actors don't actually sing all the songs. But they sure look like they do. And they sound great.

It's a confusing thing to grow up - for all of us. And these guys are all facing the fact that they are closing in on the big 40. (As if 40 was a life changing age.) One guy has even made a calendar to show them exactly where they are in their lives. Based on his premise that they will live to about the age of 80, he figures they are in the summertime of their lives - the end of June to be exact. He even figures out what hour and minute! Talk about paranoid. And this is the guy who measures his hairline to see how much it is receding!

So, now you have this group of guys. Add the rest of the gang to the mix and there's even more comedy. One wife is completely anal. Another is lusting after one of her husband's friends, another really wants to persuade her husband to have a baby, and the nanny is trying to figure out what these people are really all about.

The group is a strange mix of people, but when the guys get together and sing they have a beautiful harmony that can't be matched. The ensemble of actors creates a fabulous onscreen group that is fun to watch. Molly Shannon, Mark Feuerstein, David Harbour, Elizabeth Reaser, David Alan Basche, Rosemarie Dewitt, Reg Rogers, Alexander Chaplin, Liz Stauber, Samrat Chakrabarti, Chris Bowers and Camilla Thorsson are a delightful cast and do a first rate job.

The Austin Chronicle

Marc Savlov

A poor man's companion piece to the forthcoming Sex and the City, this earnest, well-acted ensemble film is a seriocomic meditation on what it means to be an American male approaching the dread four-oh when, of course, all involved would much rather remain 19 forever. Fluctuating wildly between surprisingly honest, unforced moments of male camaraderie and jarring sequences of loopy (but no less realistic) emotional meltdowns, this is The Big Chill by way of Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, and – your high school glee club! It's a histrionic affair that frequently threatens to spill over into outright hysteria. But when writer/director Leddy slows things down a bit, the effortlessly naturalistic ensemble cast flexes both their acting skills and their characters' age-related ambivalence. It's here that The Wedding Weekend captures the rhythmic snap, crackle, and pop of honest male banter. As the title suggests, nuptials are drawing nearer – my God! – to Greg (Feuerstein), one of a group of seven once-inseparable men who, as the gratingly expository opening sequence shows, once belonged to a men's choral group. Maybe this is de rigueur in the Hamptons or Hyannisport or wherever this weekend is set, but I was under the impression that barbershop septets had more or less vanished from the zeitgeist around the time of FDR's second term and almost certainly prior to Ed Koch's mayoral reign. Apparently I was mistaken, however, as these catty man-children sing and sing again, which immediately, if unintentionally, put me in mind of the old Vincent Price horror show Scream and Scream Again. Not the filmmaker's intention, I suspect, but against seemingly insurmountable odds, and by slow degrees, The Wedding Weekend elicits its own brand of mordant, semi-sage, testosterone-fueled humor. Much of this comes from Rogers' Seinfeldian Manhattanite Richard, whose impeccable comic timing almost single-handedly saves this weekend whine-fest from its own ill humors. Almost.

College Times

Best new Indie: 'The Weekend Wedding'

By Aaron Tavena

Money, and money alone, will determine which film wins out this year’s summer movie season and it’s a safe bet to assume that “Dark Knight” or “Hancock” might take that crown. However, what most people don’t consider are the counter-programming choices also available in the summer movie season.

Destined for financial mediocrity, flicks like last year’s “Once,” which opened against the third “Pirates” film, provide some substance in a season that’s all about flash. “The Weekend Wedding” falls into this category, and funny enough, it’s going to be more engaging and relevant to the parents who are forced to take their kids to “Narnia.”

In “Wedding,” we’re introduced to seven lifelong friends at the pinnacle of their college lives. As members of a pretty talented a cappella choir, they are like nerd rock stars. Fifteen years later, their expectation of a limitless future have faded and middle age has firmly set roots.

Whether its divorces, the prospect of kids, lack of sex or receding hairlines, these guys have hit a slump that’s compounded when one of their own is finally getting married.

The fact that “Weekend Wedding” is so balanced goes a long way. The humor is sharp and its exploration of common middle-aged themes never feels trite or cliché. Serious scenes about failure, infidelity and death are speckled throughout the otherwise funny script, but the movie never skips a beat. It’s simply entertaining all the way through, particularly during the singing scenes.

The cast is well put together and there isn’t a weak link in the bunch. Molly Shannon is obviously the most well-known and even though she’s basically playing herself as an acerbic and embarrassingly forward housewife, it feels genuine enough. Reg Rogers deserves a shout out for his funny rants about inane things like four-way stops, which only add to the comedy aspect. He’s also a fine singer.

The rest of the cast is fine, but credit goes to director/writer Bruce Leddy, who crafts a sincere piece of filmmaking. The script is fast and witty and the direction and soundtrack is sweet and airy. While it doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance this summer, there should be plenty of continued praise for “The Weekend Wedding.”