The Wedding Guest

'The Wedding Guest' 8/10 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠 = Heavy Praise

I'll make this quick, Some actors are stand out stars who always rise to the occasion and find a way to make every role they play authentic and memorable. Dev Patel is one of those such actors. 'The Wedding Guest' is an understated thriller that keeps you glued to the screen as you watch. Not because of guns blazing or intense car chases, It's because this film has a storyline that unfolds in a masterful way balancing intrigue and mystery through out it's entirety. The pace, music and acting was brilliant. I would definitely recommend this movie and my rating would be 8/10 which garners heavy praise.

"The Wedding Guest" (2018 release from the UK; 97 min.) brings the story of Jay. As the movie opens, he is packing his bags (including multiple passports), and before we know it he is on his way from London to Lahore, Pakistan. Once there, he rents a car and finds a place where he buys 2 hand guns. He eventually ends up in Punjab... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from veteran UK writer-director Michael Winterbottom. Here he brings a story of a mysterious guy who looks like he's up to no good. And what actually is he up to? Probably Winterbottom keeps us purposefully on our toes and guessing for a long time. Frankly, one-third into the movie (the half hour mark) and I had no idea who was who or what the big picture was. But then it started to make sense, slowly but surely. And before I realized it, the movie had also taken quite a different direction that what I had anticipated. The movie benefits enormously from Dev "Slumdog Millionaire" Patel's excellent work. He is in virtually every frame of the movie. It feels like he's been around since forever, but Patel is still not even 30 years old! Indian actress Radhika Apte brings the female lead, and turns out to be a worthy sparring partner for Patel. The Apte character asks the Patel character at one point "Can I trust you?", and he responds "No". How can you not like a guy who is so truthful? The movie regretfully suffers from a weak ending. But in the end, Winterbottom succeeds in keeping my interest quasi non-stop by making this a fast-paced movie with likable lead performers and an authentic background vibe as to how things are in Pakistan and India (the never-ending traffic chaos, for one!).

"The Wedding Guest" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, and it opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this past weekend. The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (2 people, including myself). I would be surprised if this plays more than a week. But if you are in the mood for an exotic drama set in Pakistan and India, I might suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Just to put in plain and simple words, the start of the movie was brilliant the director right away catches the attention of the audience and they get lured into the storyline. Dev was great no doubt about that but the only issue I have throughout the film was the background of the female lead character (Radhika Apte). The director didn't give out any such information on how the personality of the female lead is and how it would react in situations put before the movie. The rest is brilliant. I do understand one could say on one of the dialogues when Radhika asks Dev can you I trust you and he says No maybe that is the answer but once again that is situational not the background. Anyways its a good movie but the ending as I agree with my fellow watchers could have been great instead of the this then this movie would have done more business guaranteed.

I was never a huge Dev Patel fan and I'm still not after watching this movie, but if there was any doubt about his acting talent he's put it to rest here by pulling off a "tough guy" role convincingly, despite his bookish appearance.

As for Radhika Apte, I've always found her exceptionally talented and she's no different in this movie. She brings a realism to her roles like no other actress who comes to mind. I can say without any exaggeration that every performance of hers that I've watched has been Oscar-worthy. I'm certain she'll get there someday, given the right opportunity.

About the movie, the best compliment I can give it is: I was never bored. The director uses a light-handed approach and never gets in the way, everything plays out in a natural, realistic manner. Even parts of the story that should be high-points don't really grab you by the gut, this I think, stopped the movie from being memorable in any way. A crime-adventure-thriller that plays out like a slice of life movie. Also, the story doesn't seem to want to go anywhere exceptional or evoke anything more than a casual interest from the viewer. It's a decent casual watch but if you want a high octane crime drama that'll blow your socks off, look elsewhere.

Has its moments (especially the first 20 minutes) but ultimately meanders its way to nowhere with a few pointless stops and illogical plots twists in between. Well acted though the Indian backdrop is probably the true star.