Fuck My Wedding (2011) Film Review

Most often when you are attending a foreign film at a film festival, you expect something dark, heavy, and pretty much non-American. For that reason, it is almost a nice breath of fresh air to see Fuck My Wedding at Seattle International Film Festival, as it is a traditional American romantic comedy that just happens to take place in Santiago, Chile and star Chilean actors and actresses.

Fuck My Wedding takes up where its predecessor Fuck My Life ends. Javier (Ariel Levy) proposes to his berserkly attractive girlfriend Ángela (Andrea Velasco) after she accidentally gets pregnant. From the onset, it is clear that Javier’s head isn’t in the relationship, as he is tempted by his boss’s daughter Lucia (Lorenzo Izzo), and romantic comedy affairs follow. Javier makes mistakes, Angela sticks with him, breaking points are reached, and whether the couple stay together or not becomes the underlying theme.

Director Nicolás López does a good job of keeping the laughs coming throughout Fuck My Wedding. Jávier’s mother’s rotating collection of tracksuits keep the ridiculousness of her character aloof, and outside of a rather unnecessary, slightly racist bit on the topic of an adopted Haitian child, most of the jokes come in the form of good humor and taste. Jávier somehow maintains a slightly loveable demeanor despite being one of the most moronic fiances seen this side of the Panama Canal.

At its heart, Fuck My Wedding is a slightly inoffensive and pretty standard romantic comedy. Of course, the problem with this is that most standard romantic comedies aren’t anything to write home about. Although López tries to keep it a bit different at times, Fuck My Wedding still falls victim to standard cliches that drown a lot of romantic comedies, with characters making decisions that no real person would ever make. But that is the beauty of cinema, perhaps; individuals like the bumbling, yet loveable, Javier still have a fighting chance with the beauties of the world.

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2012 SCREENINGS
June 6th @ 3:30pm, Harvard Exit Theatre