[ad_1]
The Wedding Singer (M, 96mins) Directed by Frank Coraci ****
Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is a hugely successful matrimonial ceremony entertainer.
With his mix of contemporary 1980s love songs and gentle patter, he’s a hit at every event, enlivening nuptials with his brand of feel-good fun
Perhaps that’s because he too is looking forward to his own big day when he will marry his beloved Lynda (Angela Featherstone).
However, when it finally arrives, Lynda doesn’t. Her only explanation a relayed message that says she just couldn’t go through with becoming betrothed to a wedding singer.
READ MORE:
* The best Michael J. Fox-starring movies (and where you can watch them right now)
* Fatal Attractions: The 20th Century’s biggest R-Rated blockbusters (and where you can watch them right now)
* Crocodile Rock to Life’s a Happy Song: The Muppets’ best musical moments of all-time
* Apocalypto: The most audacious, bonkers blockbuster of the noughties comes to TVNZ+
* How Drew Barrymore is preparing for her daughters to learn about her ‘wild’ past
Heartbroken, Robbie feels he’ll have to give up his vocation, contemplating either performing at alternative occasions like bar mitzvah’s, or “getting a real job”.
Meanwhile, Julia Sullivan (Drew Barrymore), a waitress who has often worked the same events as Robbie, is having wedding blues of her own. Her feckless fiancé seems rather detached from the planning, leaving all the arrangements to her. In desperation, she seeks out the reluctant Robbie’s help, but against her better judgement, finds herself falling for him.
Supplied
The Wedding Singer proved Drew Barrymore possessed terrific comedic timing
A pitch-perfect celebration of a time when male perms and Van Halen were in at the same time, 25 years after it was first released, this 1985-set comedy is perhaps still the most crowd-pleasing and entertaining 90 minutes of Adam Sandler’s career.
Simple, predictable and unashamedly sweet, Frank Coraci’s (The Waterboy, Click) tale might not tax your brain with anything as complex as a plot, but it’s hard not to be swept away by the film’s infectious joy.
A toe-tapping period soundtrack (which features everyone from Billy Idol to the Kiwi-infused Thompson Twins and Falco) and easy humour will help keep you engrossed from beginning to end.
Supplied
The Wedding Singer is a film for lovers of uncomplicated and good-natured romantic-comedies and pure ‘80s pop.
While Sandler’s Hart offers the sometimes polarising (and irritating) comedian at his most charming, The Wedding Singer’s real star is Barrymore. Having gone off the rails after her childhood rise to fame in E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, the ‘90s had not been kind to the troubled actor, with the likes of Poison Ivy, Mad Love and Bad Girls not exactly setting the box-office alight. However, building on her scene-stealing cameo in Scream, this gave her an opportunity to prove not only that she could still lead a movie, but also possessed terrific comedic timing. Here, she creates a character who is funny, intelligent and charming. It was a performance that lead to a golden run that included Ever After, Never Been Kissed and Charlie’s Angels.
A film for lovers of uncomplicated and good-natured romantic-comedies and pure ‘80s pop, those of a certain age in desperate need of a hit of smile-inducing nostalgia should break out the pastels and the crimping iron and settle in for a real treat.
The Wedding Singer is now available to rent from iTunes, GooglePlay and YouTube.
[ad_2]