Movie Review: "After The Wedding"

"After The Wedding": C.  A couple of weeks ago Momma Cuandito's sister, The Great Aunt Margaret, explained to her why she had given up watching the television mini-series Yellowstone. "To get into a show I need there to be at least one character I like."   From what I've heard, the Kevin Costner western drama does not meet that minimal requirement.  I thought about Margaret's statement about half-way through After The Wedding.  It was then I realized I was in the same boat as she.  At least with respect to the three female leads, I did not like any of them.  However, I did not walk out; I fulfilled my blogger responsibilities and took one for the team (the "team" being my plethora (?) of readers).  You're welcome.  (Note: Since the turn of the century I have walked out on only one movie, 2001's Moulin Rouge.)

The dialogue in After The Wedding is particularly hard to accept.  There are too many times when a conversation will be taking place in normal fashion, only to be turned upside down by a totally incongruous remark, some taking the form of an outcry.  This is a film with lots of face-to-face meetings, often when a simple phone call would have sufficed.  More meetings result in more dialogue.  Ordinarily I don't mind an above-average quantity of dialogue, provided the script is well-written.  But, the dialogue must flow, not end in a blow up coming out of the blue.

Isabell (Michelle Williams) runs a small orphanage in India.  She has dedicated her life to this mission.  Included among the children is a boy about eight years old named Jai (Vir Pachisia).  Later we learn that Isabell rescued Jai from the streets and has considered him her adopted son.  One day the orphanage learns that it is being considered for a six figure donation from a corporation headquartered in New York City.  This is beyond the wildest dreams of Isabell and her small, grossly underpaid staff.  Up to that point the movie's set up sounds promising.  Then a series of odd circumstances begins to unfold.

The CEO of the prospective benefactor is Theresa Young (Julianne Moore).  By phone, Young insists that Isabell, whom she's never met, fly to New York to discuss the details of the gift.  Young will not consider the orphanage's preference of sending Isabell's top assistant in her stead.  Isabell's absence will be very disruptive, but Young is adamant.  A few days later, when Isabell shows up for her appointment, Young is totally unprepared.  This is unheard of for an executive who runs a huge, highly profitable company.  Young only gives Isabell a couple of minutes of her time, then invites Isabell to her daughter's wedding which is to take place the very next day.  "We can talk more then."  Really?  At her daughter's wedding?

Isabell arrives late for the outdoor wedding.  It's there she spots Oscar (Billy Crudup), Young's husband and the father of Grace, the bride (Abby Quinn).  Isabell had no desire to go to the wedding in the first place, but felt she had to for the sake of keeping the prospective gift to her orphanage in play.  Now, having seen Oscar from the back row, she really does not want to be there.  The two share a history, and it involves Grace.

In the second half of the movie there is a revelation which makes some of the preceding oddities somewhat fathomable, but much of what transpires is still illogical.  In an attempt to avoid a spoiler, I will simply state that the big controversial event from the past which now stirs the pot does not rise to the level of justifying most of the behavior of the three female leads.

Moore is a talented actress, and almost all the super-dramatic moments in After The Wedding are allotted to her character.  Crudup doesn't have that much to do relative to the the females, but he is solid.  Knew You For A Moment, performed by Quinn, is a great song which airs during the closing credits.  I wish I enjoyed her acting as much as her singing.  As for Williams, this is the first of her many screen appearances which left me disappointed.  I still look upon her as a skilled artist, but I must score her work on this one a swing and a miss.