Destination Wedding
Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves are irresistible as two narcissists falling for one another at a destination wedding, but the one-note, acerbic script can be a tad wearing
Destination Wedding resembles a Richard Linklater romance that’s been left out in the sun too long and started to curdle. The central pair in Victor Levin’s acidic rom-com, played by Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves, do a lot of talking to one another, a la Jesse and Céline in Before Sunrise, but it tends to be about how awful the people around them are at the wedding they’re begrudgingly attending. We can neither confirm nor deny their bitchy assertions about the other guests, as the only people who speak throughout are Ryder and Reeves’ characters.
What sweetens Destination Wedding’s venom is the zeal with which both actors approach playing narcissistic misanthropes. These are two self-aware stars having a grand old time sending up their own personas and bickering like a mismatched couple from a 40s screwball comedy. Reeves’ monotone cadence and deadpan scowl are particularly suited to Levin’s dense, verbose string of sour one-liners. The film can be a little wearing, and Levin’s writing sometimes isn’t as funny as he clearly thinks it is, but it’s easy to tolerate when coming from the lips of these two game performers.
Released 10 May by Vertigo; certificate 15