SECOND-HAND WEDDING

    SUMMARY

                Cheryl's planning the perfect wedding, there's just one problem - her mother.

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DAVE G'S SECOND-HAND WEDDING REVIEW:

‘Second-Hand Wedding’ could well be the 2010 ‘Kenny’. Walking into the cinema to watch this film that hails from the Land of the Long-White Cloud, I wasn’t expecting much, but I left the cinema feeling warm and having had a few chuckles with a film full of lovable characters and a storyline that sucks you and keeps you interested despite its simplicity.

 When Cheryl Rose’s (Holly Shanahan – TV’S ‘Rush’ & ‘Power Rangers Jungle Fury’) boyfriend, Stew Davis (Ryan O’Kane – TV’S ‘The Hothouse’ & ‘Welcome To Paradise’) pops the question it should be the happiest day of her life; instead she feels a stab of fear in her heart. That fear comes from the fact that Cheryl’s mother, Jill (Geraldine Brophy – ‘Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans’, TV’S ‘Legend Of The Seeker), and Jill’s best friend, Muffy (Tina Regtien – ‘Diagnosis: Death’, ‘The Last Great Snail Chase’) share the same hobby – and that is search Garage Sales for bargains. Cheryl fears these bargains will take over her wedding… making it a Second-Hand Wedding. But when she tells her father, Brian (Patrick Wilson – TV’S ‘Rude Awakenings’ & ‘Amazing Extraordinary Friends’) and her mother about the engagement news, even she knows she is skating a thin, dangerous line.

The one thing that ‘Second-Hand Wedding’ does is remind all film fans that a good film doesn’t need a Hollywood A-List cast to make it work. Director, Paul Murphy (first time director) and the screenwriting team of Linda Niccol (first time screenwriter) and Nick Ward (TV’S ‘Burying Brian’ & ‘Outrageous Fortune’) have gone back to Film Making 101 in a bid to create an amazing little film that outshines most of its blockbuster cousins. Gone are the Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe’s of this world and instead we see some local talent simply ‘become’ their characters. Also gone is the million dollar budget and instead we have a simple script about ‘real’ people that allows the audience to identify with the story they are watching, while having a quiet chuckle to themselves. Yes these screenwriters have also remembered that a good comedy script should in fact make people watching actually laugh… now that is something that a lot of comedy films these days simply fail to do.

 When it comes to acting the stand-out here is Geraldine Brophy, whose performance lifts the unique character of Jill Rose to the same level as Patricia Routledge’s Hyacinth Bucket and Shane Jacobson’s Kenny. Brophy shines in this role and despite some of her annoying quirks you get so attached to her that when she is hurt in the film you genuinely feel for her. Brophy plays this role so well I can only hope we see her on the big screen a lot more often.

 ‘Second-Hand Wedding’ is a realistic comedy that is guaranteed to make you laugh and will have you falling in love with quirky characters that reflect those in your own community. This is the little film that could, and this New Zealand film is a cult comedy in the making.

RATING:- ****  (out of 5)

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