As you may already know, I'm not in romantic comedies but when I saw the trailer to Destination Wedding on YouTube months ago, I knew I would end up watching it because Keanu Reeves is my freaking kryptonite and Winona Ryder is awesome.
The film follows two cynical, miserable and unpleasant people, Linsday (Winona Ryder) and Frank (Keanu Reeves), who meet at the airport while on their way to a destination wedding. They get off to a bad start when he cuts in front of her at the gate; things get worse on the plane when they learn they are both heading to the same wedding. As they are forced to spend time together, they begin to bond over their mutual distaste for the groom, who is Frank's half-brother and Lindsay's ex-fiancé.
It's the typical plot where hate turns into lust and lust eventually turns into love. It's predictable and probably has any romantic cliché you can think of --there's no kissing in the rain, though--, and yet it's not as terrible as it should be. Actually, I was quite invested in the story and I was rooting for love to triumph.
And there's only one reason for that, actually two: Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. Both their characters, Lindsay and Frank, are narcissists and unpleasant and supposedly irritating: Linsday is filled with angst and still hasn't put her past behind her --she accepted to go to her ex-fiancé's wedding for closure; Frank is grumpy all the time and struggling at life because of his fucked-up childhood. Who would want to see those two on screen for an hour and a half, am I right? Well, Ryder and Reeves are both so charming (and gorgeous) they make the characters likeable, charming and interesting. Also, their chemistry is so good, it's impossible to not be won over by them.
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What amazed me the most about Destination Wedding though is the importance given to the dialogue and how good it is. The film is indeed filled with quite bright and clever dialogue so much so that it almost feels like watching one of the movies of Linklater's Before trilogy. And Keanu Reeves handles it is extremely well. The only problem here? It's not as funny as it is supposed to be for a comedy. It is funny only at times, which it's definitely not enough for a comedy.
Ultimately, Destination Wedding is not as terrible as I anticipated. Sure, it's clichéd and predictable, and the characters are terrible, but Ryder and Reeves are so good you'll find yourself glued to the screen.
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