I didn’t enjoy Destination Wedding just because of Keanu Reeves. I also liked it because it’s funny, dark, sweet, smart, and has sneaky conservativism.
I’m not much for modern movies. The last ones I saw that I really liked were Darkest Hour and Paddington 2. My favorite channel is TCM and I’m a sucker for old musicals, no matter how unutterably stupid the plots are.
Given all of this, I am an unlikely audience for Destination Wedding, a little movie that snuck in and out of theaters halfway through this year and is now available through various online streaming outlets, which is how I watched it. This movie is not old nor is it a musical. Instead, according to the brief IMDB description, it tells “The story of two miserable and unpleasant wedding guests, Lindsay and Frank, who develop a mutual affection despite themselves.” Yuck.
So why did I see it? I saw it because of Keanu Reeves. Keanu is my guilty pleasure. I like the way he looks, I like the way he sounds, I mostly like his movie choices, and I like very much the fact that he doesn’t feel any obligation to share his personal views with the world. He goes to work and then he goes home, all without lecturing, hectoring, or shaming people. He’s also very polite.
And that’s why I found myself watching Destination Wedding, despite the fact that I’ve never forgiven his co-star, Winona Ryder, for what she did to Little Women, a gorgeously produced movie that completely misses the points Louisa May Alcott was making. For Keanu, I’ll put up with the well-intentioned, but morally obtuse, Winona. I also do wonder whether her facial expressions during the SAG awards were intended to applaud or ridicule the pompous political speech she was hearing. If the former, bleh on her; if the latter, she’s a comic genius.
But back to the movie I’m supposed to be reviewing here…. [Read more…]