The Wedding Dress

This movie is in the fine tradition of a good Hallmark Hall of Fame movie...though it was produced by CBS not Hallmark. I'm a sucker for a good love story, and this one did it for me...with a box of kleenex being required to make it through the ending. If you're not one who likes to pay attention to a whole movie, then don't bother with this one, cause the story keeps changing, each segment following the journey of a wedding dress and the lives it touches, and changes forever. The only thing that disappointed me about this movie is that I did not tape it when it was on.

They don't make 'em like this any more. Blood! Gore! Sex! That's all you see now. Or, if they want it to be family entertainment, it is so white bread you sit and say, "What world is this from?" But not this movie. This harkens back to the good old days of movie making, and it's about time! The Wedding Dress was delightfully twisty and turny, with chuckles *and* tears - just like real life happens to be - though the interweaving of the couples might be a bit far fetched. I accepted it, though, as a flashback to the movies of bygone days that tied it all in a neat little parcel while expecting a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. Hey, this is *entertainment* - Lighten up! That every couple touched by this special dress attended the wedding at the end (and though the dress affected them all, it was only worn to *one* very special nuptial) was just wonderful. Can we have more of these, please?

This was a Hallmarky TV movie that would have been a tepid time waster but for the sweet shine of Kathryne Dora Brown as Zoey. I loved the beginning of the movie and I marked time to the end, hopeful that she would reappear.

It didn't occur to me until almost the end of the movie that she might be Tyne Daly's real daughter but when I saw the resemblance to Daly and Georg Brown, I was surprised I hadn't known all along. I have to say that this is one "child of" who could easily make it on talent without connections.

Originally we sat down with my wife to clear some video tapes for re-recording. We were quite convinced that this never-heard-of piece wouldn't have our attention for more than 10 minutes and we can erase it with a clear conscience.

But after less than that we were trapped into the subtle magic of the movie and declared it to be one of our favorites. None of the names were familiar at that time but I have checked cast details and though there are no blockbuster names, a couple of the actors/actresses have appeared in major movies. Of course the betrayed wife (the amazing Margaret Colin) was presidential aide in ID4, of course the photographer (Neil Patrick Harris) fought against aliens in Starship Troopers, of course the grumpy aunt (Tyne Daly) was Lacey in Cagney & Lacey, of course the groom pawning his watch (Wolfgang Bodison) was accused in A Few Good Men and of course his bride (Kimberly Hawthorne) tried to find a senator's kidnapped daughter in Along Came A Spider. With them and all the other characters this is probably the best casting I have seen for a long time and I cannot understand how this romantic masterpiece is so little known of. (I couldn't even find a region 2 DVD.)

The music is beautifully matching the scenes, cinematography is also first class - this is a great example how to make a great movie without Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie and the like.

I was watching TV, when my zapping took me to this movie.The pivot of the story is a wedding dress, that could not be worn, because the bridegroom died right before the wedding day. The dress was forgotten of, only to 'reappear' many years later, when many stories start rotating around its reappearance. Narration is simple, but smooth and delightful. Acting is pleasant and casting well chosen. I saw only a bit of it at the beginning, then I moved to another channel. I turned to it again later before switching my TV off. Now I regret not having seen it thoroughly. No comments and no date were written in my TV magazine, therefore it was hard for me to make up my mind; furthermore actors are not well-known outside the USA; I am asking myself why the movie was so underestimated. No trash, no vulgar dialogs, no gruesome passages: without these ingredients a movie is not a movie?