Ceremony

Sam (Michael Angarano) is going to take his friend Marshall (Reece Thompson) on an adventure. It starts with Sam referring to liking a book in his "younger and more vulnerable years." Sam used to think it was written about him; Marshall thinks it is written about him. And if you already know which book they are referring to, the characteristics of Sam and Marshall, and the adventure they are about to go on, instantly fall into place.

Marshall doesn't yet know, but Sam is chasing after a girl. You probably already knew that because after all, that's what Gatsby was doing too. And because "Ceremony" is a romantic comedy. The girl is Zoe (Uma Thurman) and she's about to marry Whit because he's rich and handsome. Sam, although just as immature, is likely a bit more well-read than Gatsby, and he makes some hilarious and shrewd remarks about Whit and Zoe, their relationship, and about the relationship he would like to have with Zoe.

"Ceremony" is not actually like "The Great Gatsby", but the simple parallels that you can make amongst all the characters, illustrates how anyone would be able to find something to connect to in Fitzgerald's classic. And then afterwards, you will be able to find an extra layer of meaning in "Ceremony".

This is a romantic comedy, or coming-of-age journey, that is delightfully funny, whimsically quirky, but with a real sense of character. It is written and directed by Max Winkler, son of the Fonz, and he shows a natural ability coupled with a strong sense of humour and intellect. What makes me confident that he will become a great writer is when his characters discuss the art of writing characters all the while being completely oblivious to their own flaws.

Michael Angarano shows that he is becoming the star that he deserves to be (if this finds an audience) with his quick delivery of witty lines and his ability to sport a moustache and a burnt-orange suit throughout the entire movie without ever making a single joke feel tired. The younger Reese Thompson (playing the year-and-a-half older Marshall) seemed a bit out of his league, but then again he's playing a character who is a bit out of his league.

Although it takes place during a weekend wedding with a guy trying to win over a girl, it doesn't follow any standard romantic comedy trajectories. Marhsall observes those around him as he slowly matures, and Sam gets pretty much exactly what he deserves for his current level of maturity and understanding of human nature. "Ceremony" gives us that green light at the end of the dock to believe in, the orgastic future of filmmaking.

One of the easiest to watch movies of recent memories. The movie has a slow start establishing Sam's character as an absolute jerk and his friend Marchall's character as a whiny hypochondriac. However, things pick up nicely when Uma Thurman (Zoe) comes on scene. Nothing like a major star like her to pick things up.

The setting is a gorgeous beach house on the ocean, with all the beautiful people partying for a weekend wedding - who doesn't love a wedding! Sam's character unfolds delightfully as his deeply romantic self comes to the fore. And Marshall proves to be a hero!

The boys learn about life and love and the pursuit of happiness through pain and suffering. The movie, thankfully, doesn't take the easy way out by tying things up with a bow, but leaves you with the sweetness of the mystery of life.

I will say that "Ceremony" is not actually the average romantic comedy, and that was one of the brighter moments of the movie. That being said, then "Ceremony" was a rather uneventful and somewhat pointless movie.

The story was almost too simplistic and offered no laughs along the way. And this was ultimately the tripping point of the movie. It took director Max Winkler one hour and twenty-six minutes to get from A to B, and managed to almost tell nothing along the way.

It should be said that the people on the cast list were doing good jobs with their given roles, and there were some good talents performing in the movie. It was actually Lee Pace who carried the movie with his performance, despite not having a leading role.

Should you happen to like romantic comedies, then there are far better choices of this genre available out there.

I honestly did not enjoy this film. I found it slow, boring and utterly hard to follow. It is listed as a comedy, I didn't laugh once. This film tried hard to be an "arty" type film but came off disjointed, bawdy, sleep inducing and even utterly unrelated in parts. The characters were hard to get into, they didn't "gel" with each other. The scenes do not flow and jump around quite a bit and don't relate to each other. The characters were not believable and did not draw you in. They don't mesh with each other or fully give you a full picture of the relationship between characters. The whole way through this film you are guessing at the plot, at why a scene is playing out the way it is, and what is really going on. It is very obscure, not made any easier with the whole different storyline going on with Uma's character's brother. That confuses the whole plot even more. I struggled on with this film purely because I thought it would get better, and particularly I will admit because Uma was listed in it and I had enjoyed her acting in the past.Save yourself the bother and don't bother pressing play. Sorry Uma but you have acted in far better then this!

I enjoyed the first five minutes of Ceremony, where the main character is reading from his children's book in a library, and the camera slowly pans back to reveal all empty seats, except for one adult, who applauds enthusiastically at the reading's conclusion. It was original and funny, and I thought I was in for a good movie.

I couldn't have been more wrong. The rest of the movie is plagued with one-note characters, (mostly) uninteresting dialogue, and good actor's talents wasted. All of the plot points have been done before, and better (e.g. the lovelorn sap chases down the woman he loves who is slated to marry a jerk). Uma Thurman's fiancé is so blatantly obviously a jerk as to be a caricature (in an unfunny way), and it is unbelievable that an intelligent woman would see enough in this man to marry him.

The class differences at the resort is an old, tired plot device, as was the outdoor scavenger-hunt the host's family traditionally plays, which veered into the ridiculous.

I'll give one example of a poorly thought out scene. Uma Thurman visit's the main character in his guest room to talk, since they were old flames. Up to this point it has been established that the room is very hot and stuffy. Yet she walks into the room carrying a sleeping bag, then crawls into it during their conversation. A moment later in the discussion she says "it's too hot to talk about that issue," all the while buried up to her neck in the sleeping bag under the pretence of keeping herself 'safe' from her former flame (no, there was no sexual tension at all, they were just having an uninteresting discussion about their past relationship). The movie is riddled with head-scratching moments like this, as if the writer was also the proofreader and didn't catch errors in logic (or overdone clichés).

The best friend, who has been used by the main character finally leaves, which is the only believable occurrence in the movie. Then he inexplicably comes back! The only possible explanation for this was his attraction to the female caterer; I was hoping to see some dialogue between them which would have been a welcome distraction from the boring leads but she never speaks! None of the movie's problems are the fault of the actors, I blame the script.