-By David Noh
For movie details, please click here.
About-to-be-bridegroom Elvis (Kenneth Nkosi) is trying his best to
travel 1,800 kilometers to get to his bride, Ayanda (Zandile
Msutwana), for their wedding in Capetown, but one damn thing after
another seems to get in his way. Car trouble, fights with his
unreliable best man Tumi (Rapulana Seiphemo), a pesky English
hitchhiker (Jodie Whitaker) they give a lift to, and even the
wedding present of a live goat in the back seat are just a few of
his problems. Meanwhile, Ayanda is becoming increasingly frustrated
with his delay, as well as having to deal with the attentions of an
ex-boyfriend (Mbulelo Grootboom) who dumped her but has avidly
returned to the scene, to the complete approval of her meddling
mother. Will everything right itself, so Elvis and Ayanda can get
properly hitched? What do you think?
The setting—some awesome African terrain—and certain cultural
details are bracingly fresh and unfamiliar. If only the script had
followed suit, for
White Wedding is a morass of
same-old/same-old Big Day clichés that drain the viewer of any real
interest in the proceedings. Whether in the latest synthetic
Hollywood chick flick or countless Bollywood marriage orgies, we've
seen these cartoonish characters go through these familiar paces
before, whether garbed in Prada, saris or dashikis. As the silly
obstacles mount for Elvis and Ayanda matches him for cluelessness
by failing to see how constantly telling him via cell-phone about
the increasing involvement of her ex in their nuptials might drive
him crazy, your patience really dissipates. Filmmaker Jann Turner
throws in a dicey encounter for the men in a racist whites-only
Afrikaaner bar, but plays the scene for Three Stooges comedy rather
than any trenchant post-apartheid observation. Ayanda has a truly
hideous wedding gown designer to add obnoxiousness, as well as a
screaming queen of an event planner, a total stereotype which we’ve
seen far too often in movies. And then there's that damn
goat!
Nikosi has a beaming, natural joviality that is initially winning,
although Msutwana seems too snippy and self-centered a mate for
this simple, happy guy. Grootboom lurks on the sidelines greasily,
and Sylvia Mngxekeza gets some laughs with her clucking, busybody
ways as Ayanda's mom.
Film Review: White Wedding
This African wedding romp tries like hell to be rambunctious fun, but is weighed down by clichés.
Sept 2, 2010
-By David Noh
For movie details, please click here.
About-to-be-bridegroom Elvis (Kenneth Nkosi) is trying his best to travel 1,800 kilometers to get to his bride, Ayanda (Zandile Msutwana), for their wedding in Capetown, but one damn thing after another seems to get in his way. Car trouble, fights with his unreliable best man Tumi (Rapulana Seiphemo), a pesky English hitchhiker (Jodie Whitaker) they give a lift to, and even the wedding present of a live goat in the back seat are just a few of his problems. Meanwhile, Ayanda is becoming increasingly frustrated with his delay, as well as having to deal with the attentions of an ex-boyfriend (Mbulelo Grootboom) who dumped her but has avidly returned to the scene, to the complete approval of her meddling mother. Will everything right itself, so Elvis and Ayanda can get properly hitched? What do you think?
The setting—some awesome African terrain—and certain cultural details are bracingly fresh and unfamiliar. If only the script had followed suit, for
White Wedding is a morass of same-old/same-old Big Day clichés that drain the viewer of any real interest in the proceedings. Whether in the latest synthetic Hollywood chick flick or countless Bollywood marriage orgies, we've seen these cartoonish characters go through these familiar paces before, whether garbed in Prada, saris or dashikis. As the silly obstacles mount for Elvis and Ayanda matches him for cluelessness by failing to see how constantly telling him via cell-phone about the increasing involvement of her ex in their nuptials might drive him crazy, your patience really dissipates. Filmmaker Jann Turner throws in a dicey encounter for the men in a racist whites-only Afrikaaner bar, but plays the scene for Three Stooges comedy rather than any trenchant post-apartheid observation. Ayanda has a truly hideous wedding gown designer to add obnoxiousness, as well as a screaming queen of an event planner, a total stereotype which we’ve seen far too often in movies. And then there's that damn goat!
Nikosi has a beaming, natural joviality that is initially winning, although Msutwana seems too snippy and self-centered a mate for this simple, happy guy. Grootboom lurks on the sidelines greasily, and Sylvia Mngxekeza gets some laughs with her clucking, busybody ways as Ayanda's mom.
