(**1/2)
You wouldn’t wish this wedding day on anybody. But there they are. Two lovers who should be in bliss are trapped in their own turmoil.
Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli has built a solid reputation for dark comedy (Sick of Myself). It’s an avenue he treads again, somewhat. Only this time out, the darkness is mixed with romance and drama. Any slight bits of comedy are meant to evoke only nervous laughter. He takes a sweet couple and turns their relationship upside down in a love-gone-wrong narrative. Adding in a strange blend of present day, short flashbacks, longer recollections and cryptic glimpses.
In case audiences weren’t squirming enough, he harps on a social issue that may be triggering to many U.S. audiences, school gun violence. The sensitive subject isn’t broached cautiously. More like a blunt-force object meant to make the film more disturbing. As rendered, it’s a repellent aspect. It’s hard to understand Borgli’s usage, confounding in ways. If he’s trying to make a point about this tragic norm, it’s lost and dubious. The creepy ambiguity mirrors movies by Lars von Trier (Nymphomania: Vol. 1), another Scandinavian filmmaker who likes to press his audience’s buttons.
It starts in a bustling Cambridge coffee shop. He sees her sitting at a window seat reading a book. He’s smitten. Mustering up courage to approach her, Charlie (Robert Pattinson), a museum curator Brit living in Boston, starts a conversation with the very lovely Emma Harwood (Zendaya), a book editor. In the most disingenuous way, he lies, pretending he has read her book. After an awkward conversation, the infatuated thirtysomethings start their very Gen Y romance.
In the beginning, viewers, especially couples, will be enthralled by the budding love story. Charlie’s dishonesty may be off-putting, but he’s in love—hate the game, not the player. Borgli’s script pulls two lost souls together and gives them very approachable personalities, which are expertly displayed by Pattinson and Zendaya. They make the characters seem authentic and accessible, like people you might know. Eventually cohabitating in a nice Victorian rowhouse, like career-minded couples might do. Once Borgli has you in his “this-feels-so-real” grip, he turns on the weirdness. The emotional torture. The “wish this never happened to these people” feelings don’t abate.
One fated evening, as the couple and their best friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Rachel (Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza) are doing a tasting of their impending wedding menu, the wine flows and confessions do too. Rachel, “Before we got married, we did this thing where we said the worst thing that we ever did.” Mike, “I’ll tell mine if we all do it. Promise?” The foursome joins the game with the same verve that people play “Truth or Dare.” Each tells a tale they should probably never reveal, and judging by their confessions, no one is in a position to shade another. Until one admits to planning a mass school shooting. The shaming, blaming and questioning escalates. The friendship is blemished, a relationship torn apart. It’s the week of the wedding; will the emotional chaos subside before they take their vows?
Attraction and serious romance give way. Mistrust and bleakness take the sheen off what began as a winsome love story. Viewers may not like what Borgli does to their emotions, but if his goal was to make audiences feel uncomfortable, he wins. Can you imagine facing your wedding day and trying to put on a happy façade for guests, when underneath it there’s serious doubt? That at any minute a lover, friend or acquaintance could destroy the big day with an accusation or revelation.
The film’s quirky tone is accentuated by the staccato flute music in the score by Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), which sustains a peculiar tone. Cambridge looks as inviting as a “Visit Cambridge” tourist commercial because cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan captures its urban, New England magic both on the streets and in the handsome apartments. Charlie and Emma’s flat looks welcoming, like you’d want to wake up in it, thanks to set designer Zosia Mackenzie’s (Fire Inside) cultured tastes. Clothes, provided by costume designer Katina Danabassis (Past Lives), help the cast round out the characters, both in casual scenes and in formal wear on the wedding day. Editor Joshua Raymond clips the scenes at the right moment, just when you’re aghast at what you’ve seen or heard.
Prepare to be suckered in by Zendaya and Pattinson’s eye-catching performances. No matter what contortions the couple’s relationship goes through, you want to stick with them because these two talented and very photogenic actors don’t let you give up on Charlie and Emma. Even though you’ll want to smack the anxiety out of him and tell her to find a better man. Their bent relationship isn’t physically volatile like the one in The War of the Roses. Yet their hurt feelings and mental fatigue feel as toxic. Athie and Haim are quite believable as their friends who turn sour.
Hard to walk away from this trainwreck. Theatergoers may find themselves watching until the very end, hoping for a coda that redeems what they’ve just witnessed. But that flirtation with this grimdark romance may not transfer into positive word of mouth. Which makes you wonder who will RSVP to this wedding invite.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zmKcUa4Xxk
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.