Love Wedding Marriage

            Filmmaking is difficult. Sometimes it looks good on paper and appears to have the makings of a small hit, but nothing lines up the way it was meant to. Love Wedding Marriage is a case of bad casting, inexperienced direction and an all-around obnoxious screenplay. I’m sure there was something in here to inspire actor Dermot Mulroney to make this his directorial debut, but it is difficult to see anything in the final product. So what is left to enjoy in this somewhat lighthearted romantic comedy? To be honest, not a whole lot. There are the cliché supporting characters and predictable story twists, but these are all duplicated from dozens of better films.

            The story sounds like the makings of an average film, albeit a bit on the nose. Ava (Mandy Moore) is a top marriage counselor, despite having never been married herself. So when Ava marries the man of her dreams (Kellan Lutz), it also appears to be a wonderful career move as well. She also holds a great deal of stock in the success of her parent’s marriage, so her entire world is balanced on the belief in a perfect marriage. It only takes a few months of marriage for Ava to realize the reality of her own situation as well as her parents (Jane Seymour and James Brolin), sending her professional world into turmoil in the process.

            Ava is not an entirely likeable protagonist, though Moore throws herself completely into the role. Lutz, on the other hand, had more life in him when he was playing a vampire in the Twilight franchise. How many more awful actors are we meant to endure simply because they were stiff enough to play believable vampires in a popular bit of fluff filmmaking?