Our Family Wedding Review

At least Carlos Mencia and Forest Whitaker are good at acting like kids. These two rivals, their own children soon to be married, make a scene in a restaurant over who will sit down at the table first. This childish routine is the height of their performances, Whitaker not cut out for goofy comedy, and Mencia better suited for bit parts.

It’s not for lack of charisma. Mencia has a spark, able to lighten up the screen given the chance, but that opportunity isn’t here. The script is more concerned with heaps of cliches, delivering the most tired and redundant of romantic comedy plot points, right where you expect them to fall.

Our Family Wedding is a pointless sort-of remake of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (which had its own 2005 remake, Guess Who) concerning Lucia (American Ferrera) and Marcus (Lance Gross) telling their parents of their impending marriage. The fathers, disturbed by the racial split, are uneasy and act like total idiots.

The idea is this is supposed to be funny. It’s not. As much as the film struggles, attempting physical humor, racial humor, and Viagra goat (!) humor, it never connects. It falls completely downhill as all three relationships, this including the parents on both sides, all randomly splitting apart at the same time. Why? Because it’s “that” point of the movie where the romantic comedy must, without fail, test the strength of every relationship. It sets up the finale whereas the writers would have none otherwise.

Then again, it seems like everyone did run out of ideas. After the aforementioned goat assault, the movie sort of wanders on random footage of a wedding reception. People dance, sing, and laugh, all while the audience tries to grasp why any of this should be appealing to them. It’s not cohesive or connected to anything; it just sort of is.

The same can be said for the earlier softball game, which does absolutely nothing for the story. We learn Miguel (Mencia) doesn’t think Marcus is good enough. Shocker. The preceding 50+ minutes solidified that point. Our Family Wedding loves repetition, mostly because it kills time in a script that completely lacks any real content. [xrr rating=1/5 label=Movie]

The inevitable result @ 1:30:45

At the least, this AVC encode from Fox is truly remarkable, a vivid, bright, richly textured effort throughout. Sharpness is stable, preserving extensive levels of high fidelity detail, from wonderfully defined establishing views outside the home at 20:10, to the non-stop of array of flawless close-ups.

Those who appreciate a transfer that can produce exquisite levels of facial definition will be satisfied here. Just about everyone has numerous shots where visible pores, hairs, and other markings can be seen clearly. Low light is not an issue. A conversation inside a bar between Whitaker and Gross at 55:34 is simply superb, the image depth creating a wonderful sense of dimensionality, and the outstanding reproduction of facial detail amazing.

That scene stays mostly in close, yet the mid-range remains just as strong. Mencia and Gross chat at 1:06:51 with a bit of distance between them and the camera, yet the detail holds firm. There are those rare shots where a slight softness sets in, Gross a bit fuzzy around 1:28:31, while Whitaker looks stunningly rendered.

Colors are slightly elevated, leaving flesh tones natural while providing some vivid pop to certain hues. The saturated reds of the softball jerseys are spectacular. Black levels remain stable, and shadow detail is consistently perfect. A mild grain structure is left intact, and causes no noticeable problems. Most of the time its barely notable. A stock shot of the city at 1:01:27 shows some heavy edge enhancement, but this is almost undoubtedly the source. [xrr rating=5/5 label=Video]

There’s not much going on for this DTS-HD effort, a pretty flat film sonically by design. Minimal highlights include a fairly active softball game, with specific chants being produced distinctly from certain channels. General cheering and clapping is to be had too.

The wedding reception is much the same, with the addition of music that makes a minimal impact. It’s typically subdued for the clear, precise dialogue to take over. The audio sticks to the center, with limited stereo and surround work for any reason. There are no technical abnormalities, just not much to discuss either. [xrr rating=4/5 label=Audio]

A selection of six deleted scenes (including an alternate ending) are featured with two extended scenes, for about 20-minutes total. A short gag reel is followed by the lone featurette, Till Dads Do Us Part, a promotional shill. Trailers remain. [xrr rating=1/5 label=Extras]