Mark Reviews Movies: DESTINATION WEDDING

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Capsule review by Mark Dujsik | August 31, 2018

A little bit of cynicism goes a long way, and Destination Wedding is a non-stop torrent of cynicism, aired by two people who might be perfect for each other because they're so miserable. The movie, as one might imagine, does not go even a short way before it becomes mostly insufferable.

The two characters are played by Keanu Reeves, as the nihilistic Frank, and Winona Ryder, as the glum and insecure Lindsay. They meet on the way to the wedding of Frank's half-brother, who is also Lindsay's ex-fiancé.

Neither is looking forward to a weekend away in California wine country. When they arrive, neither wants to be there. They can barely put up with each other's company, but since they're the odd people out at the event, the two are left alone together for the entirety of the weekend. There are no other characters who have speaking roles, and after about five minutes of spending time with Frank and Lindsay, we kind of envy all of the people in the background, who have the benefit of ignoring them.

This is a 90-minute showcase of the two characters complaining, whining, and being self-pitying, and writer/director Victor Levin doesn't give us a moment of respite until the final, false moments. Even when they have sex, after a near-death experience involving a mountain lion (Don't ask), the two spend a good portion of those minutes talking about how miserable their lives are.

There's no counterpoint to any of it, which is a massive miscalculation. These two are too angry to be charmingly self-deprecating. They're too one-note for any of their conversations to have any depth, beyond the fact that each of them seems to have a studied a thesaurus before arriving at the airport. The twist is that Lindsay might be a secret optimist, whose initial misery is only a side effect of still being heartbroken over her ex. All she needed, apparently, was for that tryst on a hill in the countryside to start talking about a relationship and the "miracle" of meeting someone like Frank.

Reeves and Ryder do what they can, and as annoying as their characters are, they come away mostly unscathed because of natural charisma and the solid execution of pause-free banter. Otherwise, Destination Wedding has us searching the frame for a way to get away from these characters.

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