On-screen chemistry between two magnetic leads can overcome a lot in a film, but it can’t mask questionable screenwriting. Putting two uniquely charismatic performers like Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder together on screen is a winning combination regardless of genre or time period. But teaming them up for an off-kilter, two-hander rom-com should, in theory, be delightful, a balm for the oddballs who like romance in film but hate the milquetoast lovers who usually bring the genre down to its lowest common denominator. Destination Wedding gets the cast and the premise right, but fumbles with the actual execution.
Reeves and Ryder star as Frank and Lindsay, respectively. They’re both the kind of adorable, charming misanthropes that could easily carry their own quirky indie flick, but here, they meet-cute at an airport on the way to a wedding. Frank’s half-brother is getting married and so is Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend, because they’re the same person. These two immediately get off on the wrong foot only to discover they’ve heard of one another and are in fact going to the same damn place.
It all gets going like a pitch-perfect screwball comedy, with the two leads being the only characters in the film with any speaking lines. That hyper-focus on the duo means we’re entirely engrossed into every little interaction they have over the course of the trip as they inevitably fall for each other, despite their differences, then have to struggle to keep it together after acknowledging their mismatched auras.
This is all well and good, for the most part because Reeves and Ryder are dynamite together. Given the chance, most people would probably be entertained by watching them take turns reading a carryout menu back and forth. They’re just that naturally watchable and engaging. But here’s the thing: this is an incredibly talky movie and neither of them do their best work with dialogue. That’s not to say they’re particularly bad at repartee, but both Reeves and Ryder are spectacularly gifted at looks, glances, silences and expressing maximum emotion with minimum physical effort. It’s rare to find two leads who can do so much with so little.
So, for that reason, it’s utterly baffling that they’re forced to spend the runtime trying their damnedest to make Victor Levin’s script sound even remotely normal. Levin, who also directed the film, is a TV vet who’s been around for awhile, but the writing here feels like it was done by a know-it-all twentysomething with an axe to grind. Whole passages of dialogue sound less like two humans talking and more like an AI algorithm writing “Daria” fanfiction. There’s some clever exchanges, to be sure, and it’s not the worst written film of the year, but man oh man, is it in the running.
It’s not necessarily because this script wouldn’t work solidly for a different cast. It’s not difficult to imagine Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Lawrence chewing on all this cleverer-than-thou, Diablo Cody-on-PCP verbal vomit and being satisfied with their own smarminess. But this is Keanu and Winona, for fuck’s sake. Watching such talented actors have to dedicate so many neurons to making such cringey and forced dialogue feel naturalistic is almost a painful experience.
It’s entirely possible that Usain Bolt could run faster than the average person while also successfully juggling bowling pins. He could probably win races while doing it, given sufficient training as a juggler. But as impressive as that could theoretically be, wouldn’t it be better, for all involved, if he was just free to sprint, flat-out, with no unreasonable hindrances? Destination Wedding isn’t without its charms and it’s always nice to see Reeves and Ryder on screen, regardless of the circumstances, but Levin was given a Godsend with this cast and forced them to do tragicomic parlor tricks instead of letting them carry a real story, and that’s a shame.
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