Destination Wedding is about two people who instantly rub each other the wrong way then discover that they are headed to the same wedding. They become inseparable and united in their hate of everything else. Will they find love or just chalk it up to a random confluence?
I actually saw Winona Ryder promote Destination Wedding and would have seen it in theaters because I watch anything that Keanu Reeves is in regardless of quality, but it never came to a theater near me. I’m glad that I saved my money, but if I had not, I would have felt ambivalent about the whole enterprise and probably still had a good time.
I liked Destination Wedding in spite of the fact that it is flawed, and that I would not recommend it except to the most ardent Ryder and Reeves’ fans. I’m going to start with the negatives, and if they aren’t a deterrent, then maybe you should check out the movie. It is a rom com therefore wildly contrived and unrealistic. If you are familiar with the genre, then you won’t be surprised by how everything shakes out. You would be mad if it didn’t end that way. It feels as if it would work better as a play although I understand why it needs to be a movie because the scenario works better if the characters are actually on location instead of just pretending that they are. The dialogue is overwritten—do not think Gilmore Girls on the CW, but as if an older person was writing in a style that he thought younger people were talking in.
I understand that Ryder and Reeves have not been young for ages. She is forty-seven, and he is fifty-four at the time of this review, but the way that Destination Wedding had their characters confuse gender and sexuality then tried to coin what sounded like their own terms to disguise intolerance for progressiveness felt awkward and excessive, especially considering that Ryder’s character is an attorney who prosecutes organizations for being “culturally insensitive,” which I don’t think is a thing. It felt as if the writer, who is also the director, had a lot to say and thought that he would not get another chance to use it in such a high profile context so he threw it in this movie, but also didn’t want to get criticized so he decided to use phrases in a way that didn’t quite fit so he couldn’t get accused of being insensitive himself. It felt more grumpy, old man than awkward misanthropic, and I’m speaking as someone who dances very close to the line of being a misanthrope. We hate everyone, not just people that everyone decides to hate because they’re different. Those people hate anyone that is different and just classify different people as being extra or attention seekers. It is bias that is rooted in jealousy at witnessing someone else living fully and unashamed, not hate per se. These people are possibly persuadable, but would you bother to spend the time distinguishing them from the haters?
So why would I enjoy Destination Wedding even though it has fussy dialogue, objectively repellent characters and is a rom com? Reeves’ character is kind of hilarious, quotable and relatable. I don’t want to ruin the movie for you by listing my favorite quotes, but I have favorite quotes. To be objectively fair, I should not necessarily be trusted when it comes to judging Reeves work, but I don’t love his work unconditionally. Siberia is the worst movie of 2018. The way that his character approaches life in a pugilistic manner even when he is happy cracked me up. I often found myself agreeing with him on the issue of day drinking with the exception of mimosas, free things, awful people. “I’d rather be strong and ruined than weak and ruined.” I think that one was his. Oh well. His reactions to her attempts at cheerfulness were delightfully undiplomatic, and you will not expect the absurd payoff for his phlegm problem.
Even if you don’t buy into the rom com angle of Destination Wedding, you will at least relate to the phenomenon of travelling and suddenly becoming bonded and inseparable from people that you just met. It is funny how people are capable of creating cocoons of coziness in unfamiliar places and are able to find their closest compatriot in the crowd even when they later discover that person is actually awful. They still cling to the known in the face of the crowd. I found that aspect of the movie credible and perfectly depicted. We only see and hear Ryder and Reeves interacting until the end of the movie otherwise when they separate and are forced to engage with others for the sake of social protocol, that dialogue is a part of the din of the crowd.
Destination Wedding should not be confused with the Hallmark Channel original movie that does not star Ryder and Reeves. The most brilliant move was to cast the pair as the leads because they are professionals with a shared history, possibly friends, so they can draw on those reserves to add to their characters’ chemistry. The pillow talk made me roll my eyes, but it is a rom com so I must have signed a waiver at some point.
Destination Wedding is available for streaming for free on Amazon Prime so if you’re already a member, then the only thing that you have to lose is your time. If you don’t like it, don’t say that I didn’t try to discourage you.