Find Something Better to Do for 90 Minutes

I am a big Brit Flick fan. I think the British have made some fantastic films over the years, at the same time there have been a few duds that have got though on the back of a successful genre. The Rom-Com (Romantic-Comedy) has to have been one of the most commercially successful genres of recent years with films like Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones et al doing their bit for the British economy at the Box Office. Hoping to follow in their footsteps (and sadly failing miserably) is Confetti.

Comedian Jimmy Carr (host of '8 Out of 10 Cats') plays Antoni the owner of Confetti, a top bridal magazine, he and editor Vivienne (Felicity Montague - Alan Partridge's long suffering assistant) come up with a Most Original Wedding competition idea and start the audition process. They narrow it down to three themed weddings, to be organised by wedding planners' Gregory and Archie:

The 'Hollywood Musicals' couple. Tone-deaf Sam and Matt (Jessica Stevenson and The Office's Martin Freemen) dream of a Hollywood Musical style wedding where their family and friends join in on a show-stopping production. They are ably unassisted by Sam's interfering mum (Alison Stedman playing to type) and attention seeking sister.

The 'Tennis' Couple. Josef and Isabelle (Stephen Mangan and Meredith MacNeill) are huge tennis fans who are extremely competitive and desperate to win the contest, that they will do almost anything. They also want Cliff Richard to sing at their wedding.

The 'Naturist' Couple. Michael and Joanna (Robert Webb and Olivia Colman) want to be naked for their wedding. Joanna is new to naturism and isn't convinced she wants to be naked in front of too many people though, especially her mother.

The film is done as a mock 'documentary' and apparently was improvised. They really should have scripted it, or got in some more original actors because, quite simply, the film just isn't funny. The film is directed and 'written' (i.e. conceived) by Debbie Isitt, who I am not familiar with. I was also not familiar with half the cast, but a check on IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427089/) shows that most of them have appeared on the TV programme 'Peep Show'. I have not seen this show, but it does smack a bit of an 'Old Boy' network. I would have thought that at least meant there was some chemistry between the couples, if the actors knew each other well. Sam and Matt came across as the only couple even slightly realistic, the rest were nothing more than bad caricatures. The supporting cast of friends and family members were at best, irritating and at worst, amateur stereotypes. One small saving grace were the two wedding planners Archie and Gregory, but they were far from able to hold this dire, predictable film together. The ending (as far as who wins) is also predictable, although they do try hard to attempt to offer you some suspense, but to be honest by this time I didn't actually care. The whole premise of the film and so much more potential for comedy than the final result, I feel this was one big wasted opportunity.

The extras include three alternative endings so you can see what happens if another couple won, and a different ending with the same winners. There are also a few featurettes which appeared to be extra footage of the wedding planners which may be entertaining but I was not prepared to waste any more of my life.

It has a 15 certificate - not to be watched if you are uncomfortable with full-frontal nudity.