Being in love and being young is great. It can also be a very stressful time for the bride and groom and also their families. Meeting the parents of your daughter or son’s soon- to-be-wife or husband can be an experience that can bring out the best in one another and show the strength of love that parents have for their child or reveal things that you would of ordinarily never of found out about your family members. I saw “The Big Wedding” with my mom and her mother (my grandma) on Mother’s Day. this movie shows that all families deal with difficult situations and have interesting moments in their lives, but that they can find a way to get through them and make the best of sometimes a situation that could have gone completely worse if the family members did not believe in the fact that families really do come in “all shapes and sizes” and need to accept each other with love.
“The Big Wedding” is about a non-traditional family with a cast that stars Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Rae who all either by birth, adoption, being the mother-in-law or just through marriage play the role of a parent to the five adult children in the movie. Amanda Seyfried and Ben Barnes’s character are getting married and this movie brings the two families together. Through the coming together there are many ups and downs that make each character stronger. Katherine Heigl and Topher Grace play siblings who take part in what should be the most happiest time in their adopted brother’s life – his wedding. This large cast of very talented and famous actors and actresses made this movie for me a 10 out of 10. Each character brought something very special to the other members of their family.
The movie starts out 10 years after Robert De Niro and Diana Keaton’s characters have been divorced. Even though they were divorced for a very long time, they still remained close friends and that turned out to be difficult for Susan Sarandon’s character who was Robert De Niro’s girlfriend and who was also like the mother to his three children. All of his three children thought of Susan Sarandon’s character like a mother because she was living with them for the past 10 years as they were growing up. It was the weekend of the big wedding of Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton’s characters’ adopted son, Alejandro and also when his biological mother, played by Patricia Rae, was going to be introduced to his adopted parents and his father’s girlfriend (his fill in mother). Alejandro had met his biological mother before but never introduced her to his adopted parents until the weekend of his big wedding. Muffin (played by Christine Ebersole and who played Amanda Seyfied’s character’s mother) was not happy that her daughter, being a blonde white girl, was marrying a Spanish guy because her grandchildren would come out “beige” in color to put it in nicer terms. The bride and groom thought it was ridiculous that Muffin was living in the olden times when it mattered that a person was of mixed races and it bothered the couple that the bride’s mother was not all that accepting of the groom. Later, you find out that Muffin, who was married to Barry (played by actor David Rosche), was not as straight-laced and traditional as she pretended to be and she was putting up a front to cover up who she really was. But on the other hand, the groom’s mother was also not too happy that her son was marrying a white girl but both parents had to get over that and start to like each other for their children’s sake and well being.
The bride and groom were determined to get married even if their families did not get along too well. The groom had three women in his life that played as his mother (actress Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Rae) whom he loved very much and knew he was blessed to have them all in his life. He wanted all the women to be at his wedding ceremony and that meant they would have to put their differences aside and remember that they were bonded together because of their great love for their “son” who was getting married. The movie though took a unexpected turn when Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton, due to their son’s wedding festivities, got a lot cozier with each other then they should have. Both of them were so happy and proud of their adopted son and started remembering back to when they first got married. While the wedding rehearsal was going on Diane Keaton stayed in her old house that she lived in when she was married to Robert De Niro’s character. Being in that house again brought back old memories and the divorced couple found themselves in bed together having sex that in the movie Robert De Niro’s character said ”lasted for 40 minutes.” The first child to find out that her parents hooked up again was Katherine Heigl’s character and she was actually not surprised because her parents always remained very close after they divorced and something like this was almost bound to happen. But to make the situation worse, Susan Sarandon’s character found out and almost left Robert De Niro’s character. Susan Sarandon’s character was best friends with Diane Keaton’s character and she could not believe that she could sleep with the father of her children after 10 years of being divorced. Susan Sarandon’s character stayed upset for a good portion of the movie but forgave the couple because she loved them both way too much to stay mad at them and knew that it was just in the heat of the moment since their adopted son was getting married that they hooked up and for no other reason. You could tell that Susan Sarandon’s character had faith that Robert De Niro’s character really did love her and even though he still loved his ex wife they were only really good friends at this point. Susan Sarandon’s character loved all the three children like they were her own children because she had a significant role in raising them.
“The Big Wedding” brings out the true love that a parent has for his or her child but also the love that a women can have for three children that are not even biologically hers but rather the children of her best friend. Things were changing for the lives of each of the characters and learning to deal with whatever life throws you is the key to true happiness. Topher Grace’s character was the only child who was not married or in the process of getting married. Topher Grace was looking for a girlfriend, or let’s say a girlfriend fell into his lap, when he was immediately turned on by his adopted brother’s biological sister who was staying the weekend. Topher Grace’s character was shocked at how forward was his adopted brother’s biological sister, played by actress Ana Ayora, and how she literally took her clothes off for him without hesitation and jumped into their lake to turn him on even more. He was surprised with how she acted but figured that her being extremely forward was part of her Spanish culture and expressing her sexuality was normal among the younger generation. But the older Spanish generation was very reserved and you saw that in the way the groom’s biological mother acted and how she responded to his adopted family and also soon-to- be wife’s family. However, just like Muffin, Alejandro’s biological mother had secrets too and the reason she gave him up for adoption was because she had him from a man she was not married to and in her culture that was unacceptable. That is why it was not entirely fair of her to judge her daughter’s sexual actions so harshly. Each character had a secret that through the movie was slowly being revealed. The characters having these secrets made them have more humanistic qualities because all people have flaws and no one is as perfect as they pretend they are. Even Susan Sarandon’s character has a secret that is revealed towards the end of the movie that is the biggest shocker and totally unexpected.
Each family member was trying to be on their best behavior but things did not exactly turn out as planned. Most things in life usually do not turn out the way that they are planned but in the end they end up turning out perhaps even better than one could have imagined. Each character had their quirks and problems but that did not mean that they did not want the best for their children. Being a parent is certainly not an easy job but it is surely the most rewarding job in the world and this movie was an excellent choice to see on Mother’s Day. It doesn’t matter how you become a mother, if it were by giving birth to your child, adopting them, being a so-called mother to your son’s wife and by perhaps being a mother to your son’s three adult siblings (who are siblings through adoption) or lastly, by being with a man who already has kids. Being a mother is a wonderful thing and let’s not forget that being a father is also just as wonderful. The soon-to-be-married couple did not believe in organized religion but they put their doubts behind them about the church and let Robin William’s character, Father Moinighan, marry them regardless of what their mixed-up family had to say about it.
“The Big Wedding” will make you laugh, cry, feel joy and pain but feeling all those emotions at once is part of understanding the heart of what a family is all about. No family is perfect and, if you think there is a family that does not deal with struggles, then you are fooling yourselves. Getting through those struggles will in the end bring you closer together and maybe even start a whole new family in the process. Learn to love and appreciate your family because, like I said before, families come in all shapes and sizes and moments like a wedding can bring people together who probably would not end up together if it were not for the sake of their children. Funny things can come out of serious circumstances and finding those funny moments will make life more enjoyable. Holding onto grudges is a waste of time, so forgive people today or you will be sorry when they walk out of your lives forever. Never let someone so special slip out from under your fingertips when you know the situation can be worked out. Without forgiveness, there can never be true love and, without faith and hope, a new love can never start. You might see some of these characters in your own family because, no matter how different a family is, everyone goes through similar circumstances that we learn lessons from and those lessons help us to grow into the individuals that our parents can be proud of.
VIDEOS – CLICK PLAY AND WATCH EACH ONE OF THEM !!
THE FIRST VIDEO IS OF THE OFFICIAL MOVIE TRAILER TO THE MOVIE “THE BIG WEDDING” IN HD. WATCH AND GET A SNEAK PEEK INTO THIS WILD, LOVING AND EXCITING FAMILY !!
THE SECOND VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS – KATHERINE HEIGL ABOUT HER CHARACTER .
THE THIRD VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS – SUSAN SARANDON ABOUT HER CHARACTER AS THE ADOPTED MOTHER AND THE MOTHER-IN-LAW TO FIVE ADULT CHILDREN.
THE THIRD INTERVIEW IS WITH ACTOR – ROBERT DE NIRO ABOUT HIS CHARACTER AS THE FATHER AND FATHER-IN-LAW TO THE FIVE ADULT CHILDREN.
THE FORTH VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR – TOPHER GRACE ABOUT HIS CHARACTER.
THE FIFTH VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS – AMANDA SEYFRIED WHO’S CHARACTER PLAYS THE BRIDE.
THE SIXTH VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR – BEN BARNES WHO’S CHARACTER PLAYS THE GROOM AND THE ADOPTED SON.
THE SEVENTH VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS – ANA AYORA ABOUT HER CHARACTER.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuEEWJ9DGA
THE EIGHTH VIDEO IS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR – ROBIN WILLIAMS CHARACTER WHO PLAYS FATHER MOINGHAN.
