A Wedding -1978
Forgotten Altman,
Director
Robert Altman

Writers
Robert Altman (story)
John Considine (story)
Robert Altman (screenplay)
John Considine (screenplay)
Allan F. Nicholls (screenplay)
Patricia Resnick (screenplay)

Producers
Robert Altman producer
Scott Bushnell associate producer
Robert Eggenweiler associate producer
Tommy Thompson executive producer

Cast
Carol Burnett
Desi Arnaz Jr
Paul Dooley
Amy Stryker

Review by Wayne Malin

Dino Corelli (Desi Arnaz Jr.) is marrying Margaret Brenner (Amy Stryker). Naturally everything goes wrong. There’s the married woman (Carol Burnett) who’s being chased around by another man; a lesbian wedding planner (Geraldine Chaplin); a gay captain (Craig Richard Nelson); a senile priest; a topless portrait of the bride as a wedding gift; the old head of the family (Lillian Gish) who is bedridden etc

This isn’t even close to being one of Altman’s best works like “Nashville” and “Short Cuts”. There are far too many characters, it meanders all over the place and it’s too long. Still it’s not his worst (“H.E.A.L.T.H.” is MUCH more horrible). This comes across as him trying to please the audience. The story lines are pretty conventional and the PG rating prevents him from throwing in tons of female nudity (which he seems to love showing in all his films).

It’s not bad but it doesn’t look or feel like an Altman film. I was seriously surprised to see he directed it, I thought it was just some by-the-numbers director who doesn’t even try anything different. Direction aside the plots are pretty predictable and Altman doesn’t do comedy that well. The bits with Burnett only work because of Burnett’s considerable comedic talents. The acting varies from terrible (Arnaz Jr.) to OK (Stryker) to very good (Burnett and Chaplin).

Not the total fiasco that people have said it is but definitely a lesser Altman. A 7.

Review by Zetes

A disaster,

But not without a great deal of interest, especially for Altman fans like myself. It’s actually one of the most disappointing films I’ve ever seen. I caught the first hour about a year ago on television, and I was enthralled. “One of Altman’s best!” I exclaimed. Or at least I thought that it probably would be if I ever got to see the last half of it. Now I finally found it, and I am hurt.

The first hour is brilliant. It’s the kind of film Altman is best known for, the ensemble piece, this one about a wedding. Perfect, Altman has two huge families to play around with. There are dozens of characters, perhaps more than he had in his masterpiece, Nashville. It’s amazing, the family dynamics, the characters’ histories, their feelings about the union between Dino and Muffin, etc. It’s all staggering, entertaining, hilarious, and brilliant. The first hour buzzes along like fireworks.

But then it begins to trip. You can actually see it coming. There are just too many characters and too much going on. Most of them had had their moments up to that point, but some, such as Ms. Farmer, who seems to be somewhat important, we don’t know anything about. However, to make it even worse, Altman and the other screenwriters begin to add more characters (what’s with Briggs and Tina? They’re just a horribly cheap plot device, and the two actors are awful!), come up with more plot twists, and insert a sort of very miscalculated humor (especially with the drunk aunt or whatever she was, the one dressed like a gypsy). It’s like watching a train wreck for almost the whole of the second half. A few good scenes turn up, but far more bad ones. For instance, what the hell was Altman thinking when (SPOILERS, although the film itself is its ultimate SPOILER) he had Geraldine Chaplin come unto Muffin? I mean, for God’s sake, the film had like 20 minutes left. That just came out of left field. Its parallel is even less believable, although at least that one has some precedent character development in the film. Both of these scenes are exploitative.

Although it is a disaster, A Wedding does contain enough to make it well worth seeing once. Mia Farrow is really good. And if you ever wanted to see her naked (she is quite a beauty, I admit), here’s your chance. That scene was awful and should not have been in the film. It’s another moment that just made me sigh with anger. This may be Geraldine Chaplin’s best role. Although Nashville is in my personal Top Ten, I have to admit that the only part of that film that strains the film is the character of Opal, the ditzy, pseudo-BBC reporter played by Chaplin. In A Wedding, she plays the wedding planner, and she is amazing. It’s far too bad Altman took a dump on her character by adding that penultimate scene of hers that I mention above in the spoiler. At least he kind of made amends by giving her the excellent final shot of the film.