Search - Kiss the Bride on DVD

Good Idea, Problematic Production

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 02/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"KISS THE BRIDE seems to be searching for the audience that fell in love with the Indie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", in an Italian variant of a similar story. Somehow this effort fails to gel. Written, Directed and Acted by Vanessa Parise it shows the effect that too much input from one mind can fail to see the flaws inherent in such an undertaking.

Simple story: an Italian Rhode Island family, the Sposatos, is preparing for the upcoming wedding of Danni (Amanda Detmer) and her longtime boyfriend Geoff (the sadly underused Jonathan Schaech). Danni's mother (Talia Shire) and father (Burt Young) are blissful that one of their four daughters is following the good old Italian concept of marriage and family. Danni calls her sisters to some home for the wedding: Niki (Brooke Langton) is a 'famous' TV body image who comes with her lowlife manager (Johnny Whitworth), Crissy (Vanessa Parise) who is a Wall Street marvel yet unhappy, and Toni (Monet Mazur) who arrives on a motorcycle with her surprising Lesbian lover. It is Danni's one simple wish that gathering the disparate sisters will restore the lost family ties she regrets.

Mix these ingredients (like the wonderful shots of Italian cooking that abound in this film!) and out comes a series of changes in the relationships of the sisters and the whole concept of the nuclear Italian family unit. Entertaining at times, the film suffers from too shallow characterizations from the sisters to make us care for their individual plights.

Not a bad movie, just not a memorable one. Grady Harp, February 2005"

Kiss the Bride will make you want to pucker up

C. Gunnells | New York | 07/28/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"An Italian family prepares for an upcoming wedding. The recipe for disaster: 3 fighting sisters, 2 family squabbles, 1 ex-boyfriend and a partridge in a pear tree. Add a splash of Italian culture to the subplot and stew. This movie is equal parts trite and entertaining, but the cast is surprisingly good with standout performances by Jonathan Schaech and Talia Shire. In a not-so-clever twist, one sister brings home her lesbian lover (Alyssa Milano) simply for the shock value. By the end of the film, the outsider shows everyone who's the boss. -Cynthia Gunnells, CeleGAYtions"

This Isn't Supposed to Be a Comedy People!!!!

Madeline | USA | 08/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, I've read a couple of the other reviews on here, and I'm honestly flabbergasted at what some people are saying. "It's a Big Fat Greek Wedding knockoff"?????? Did you watch the same movie? Kiss the Bride was never supposed to be a comedy-or even is remotely like BFGW, other than they both involve large families.

Ok, on to the actual movie-Kiss the Bride is a poignant drama about four sisters who have grown up to become four very different people and are all thrown back together during one of the sister's wedding. I admit that at times the movie is a little too melodramatic, but coming from a large family myself, I can honestly say that most of the drama is very "real". That's probably why I like it so much-it deals with real issues and doesn't try to make everything all nice and pretty. I admit it has a "happy ending", but that doesn't demean the struggles that the girls all went through to get to that point-It IS possible to have a serious drama with a happy ending!

The leads (four girls) acting is all top-notch; although, at times the fiance's and boyfriends performances came across a little over the top. This is an indie film, and they made due with the best they could find.

I can't say enough though how "real" these characters are. Instead of fitting the stereotypes, they are complex and have equally complex relationships with each other. (Again, referring to the four girls)

In the end, everything just fits together to create an emotionally charged and fulfilling movie. One of my favorites!"

Plain, predictable and unexciting

Deborah G | Los Angeles, CA | 11/13/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I am getting married next month... And I am looking for a tearjerker - you know something that expresses the range of emotions involved with a wedding: from exuberantly happy to some strange sad moods. Anyway, this movie did absolutely *nothing* for me. Completely predictable, bad editing and writing and strange visual shots. Some of the actresses are cute (and some are better than others) but there was no character development. I hardly ever feel that a movie is a waste of my time. Why did I finish it? Because I kept hoping it would get better and it never did."