Movie Review: 'The Wedding Year': Who Knew They Still Made Romantic Comedies?

Everyone's getting married and it is driving poor Mara (Sarah Hyland of Modern Family), the protagonist of the new romantic comedy The Wedding Year, nuts. Her sister (Jenna Dewan) is getting married. Her boss and co-worker, Ellie (Anna Camp) is getting married. Even the girl who kicked her out of the band she was in High School is getting married and for some reason invited Mara.

Marriage is everywhere and it is absolutely the last thing that single and loving it Mara is interested in. An avowed bachelorette, Mara is comfortable having drinks with her best friend, Alex (Matt Shively) and trolling Tinder for guys she thinks might be willing to buy her dinner when she can't afford to pay for herself.

That's how Mara meets Jake (Tyler James Williams), a fry cook at a greasy spoon who, rather than buy her a fancy dinner he can't afford, makes her chocolate chip pancakes and earns a night her bed that most of her Tinder dinner dates don't get. Indeed, Jake proves to be much more special than Mara's average Tinder conquest. They actually see each other in daylight.

The two begin a whirlwind romance and things are sexy and fun until all those wedding invitations start pouring in. Now, not only does Mara have to contend with her own stack of wedding obligations, she has Jake's wedding obligations to contend with. One of those is the wedding of Jake's brother, which means a weekend overnight trip to Virginia and meeting his parents, played by Keith David and Wanda Sykes, who also plays Jake's old school granny who can't help talk about Jake getting married and how wonderful Jake's ex-girlfriend was.

The Wedding Year has a structure that takes Mara and Jake from meeting cute over Tinder to a series of weddings in the second act that test their relationship fortitude to finally, the traditional third act break up. There is no deviation from the form here. That said, one thing I always remind readers about when it comes to Rom-Coms and genres filled with traditions and intractable tropes: it's about the journey and not the destination.

Look, be real, you know where most rom-com's are headed, it's not rocket science. Or maybe it is, I assume rocket scientists use formulas and rom-coms are all about formula. Meet cute, falling in love montage, break-up at the start of the 3rd act and romantic reunion. These are intractable elements of a romantic comedy. If you accept these things as facts then you can still find ways to enjoy the genre.

What director Robert Luketic, creator of one of my all time favorite movies of all time, Legally Blonde, does is rely on his stars to provide what little innovation exists in The Wedding Year. Sarah Hyland has the burden of being the star here and she proves capable enough of holding the center of the movie. Hyland isn't reinventing the wheel but her relaxed narcissism that eventually gives way to warmth and charming insecurity works in this story.

Hyland is well paired with Jesse Tyler Williams whose buff bod and good nature help him work around a rather bland character. Jake is not exactly the most captivating romantic lead but he's steady and sweet and just the kind of stable and handsome dude who fits well with Hyland's flibbertigibbet character.

Robert Luketic is the perfect director for The Wedding Year. Luketic knows his way around a romantic comedy as he's directed many since his Legally Blonde breakthrough. Many of those movies weren't very good but they were breezy and quick, and for the most part, when they didn't star Gerard Butler, they went down easy.

Luketic's breeziness and good nature are what makes The Wedding Year good enough for me to recommend. The movie has three good scenes which, if you study your Roger Ebert you know is sometimes enough for a movie to get a passing grade. There is a lack of ambition to The Wedding Year that makes the three good scenes rule a fair and just reason for me to recommend it. The film doesn't aspire to great movie romance, it exists to be a trifle with three really good scenes and just enough laughs.

My favorite scene in The Wedding Year has Hyland bailing on a hook up who wants to make her pancakes. When she continues beating a hasty retreat she explains that women can be just as mean as men when it comes to bailing on a hook up. It's quite a funny scene and demonstrative of Hyland's charm and this movie's modern take on women and sexuality.

As I said, there are three good scenes in The Wedding Year, but I will leave you to discover them. The Wedding Year may not be innovative or unique, but it's funny and sweet in the way that traditional romantic comedies aspire to be. It hits the right beats at the right moments, the characters are lovely and charming enough and the film is mostly well directed.

If you are looking for a breezy, good time, The Wedding Year opens in limited release on September 20th.