The Wedding Year | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I'm a fan of Sarah Hyland, so I heard about this film a while ago, but didn't notice until recently that it was available on Amazon Prime Video, so of course I watched it as soon as I got the chance.

Mara (Sarah Hyland) and Jake's (Tyler James Williams) new relationship is put to the test when they decide to attend seven weddings together over the course of a year. But will these weddings make or break their relationship?

I enjoyed this movie, though didn't love it.

For a start, the character of Mara isn't someone that you can easily warm to. If anything, because of how likeable Jake is, you end up putting up with her despite the fact that she isn't that great a person, or a protagonist.
It felt like Mara was supposed to have some kind of epic character development by the time the film ended, but nothing significant about her actually changed.

The film is quite cliche, particularly in the beginning. But for me, the only reason I noticed how unoriginal it was is because it was trying so hard to be original in the first place.

For a film that only really has two characters, it would be nice to actually get to know them more. It felt like the film didn't know if it wanted to be character or plot driven, so it ended up being neither.

In the film, we see the couple attend 7/8 different weddings, at least. It would have been really interesting to see a wide variety of vastly different weddings, but apart from the significant incidents that take place at each one, they could have all been from the same bland wedding - so it didn't even live up to its USP.

The best parts of the movie are the 'meeting the parents' scenes - they are the only scenes of the movie that are actually funny, even though the film tries to be a lot funnier than its end result.

While Sarah Hyland and Tyler James Williams had a natural chemistry acting together, the characters they played have no chemistry. To me they seemed really incompatible as a couple. And when the cliche conflict caused them relationship trouble, it wasn't a surprise because they never really seemed to fit well together anyway.

Overall, the film is enjoyable enough, but not great. I probably wouldn't give it a second watch, but if you need something chill and easy to watch for an hour and a half, you definitely won't lose anything by giving this a go.

5/10

Lou