My Mother's Wedding (15)

After losing two husbands in the space of a few years, Diana is ready to walk down the aisle for a third time with birdwatching beau Jeff Loveglove. She gathers her family for hen and stag dos followed by a simple service at the local church and marquee reception in her back garden. Her three daughters, Katherine, Victoria and Georgina, assemble with their emotional baggage.

LondonNet Film Review

My Mother’s Wedding (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Oscar-nominated actor Kristin Scott Thomas enjoyed one of her biggest successes on screen with a romantic comedy promising four weddings. It’s fitting that her directorial debut should deliver one set of nuptials and reunite her with co-star James Fleet. Written with John Micklethwait, My Mother’s Wedding is a haphazard celebration of love lost and found that feels like a bottle of champagne that popped its cork days ago and now lacks most of the tongue-tingling fizz…

After losing two husbands in the space of a few years, best friends named John and Jonathan on military manoeuvres in the Falklands and Bosnia respectively, Diana (Scott Thomas) is ready to walk down the aisle for a third time with birdwatching beau Jeff Loveglove (Fleet). She gathers her family for hen and stag dos followed by a simple service at the local church and marquee reception in her back garden. Her three daughters assemble with their emotional baggage. Eldest child Katherine (Scarlett Johansson), a decorated naval officer who will take command of an aircraft carrier after the nuptials, is emotionally distant from her son Marcus (Fflyn Edwards) and relies on partner Jack (Freida Pinta) to raise the boy while she is at sea.

Fresh from promoting her latest film, The Dame Of Darkness IV, middle child Victoria (Sienna Miller) continues to pine for childhood sweetheart Charlie (Mark Stanley), while acknowledging that she is destined to end up with unsuitable men. “The nice ones are too busy being nice, they’re not interested in going out with famous actresses,” she informs stepsister Georgina (Emily Beecham). The youngest child is an NHS nurse with two daughters, who recently found incriminating texts on a phone belonging to her husband Jeremy (Joshua McGuire). A private detective named Steve (Samson Kayo) gathers secret video footage of his betrayal. The big reveal is timed for straight after the nuptials.

My Mother’s Wedding is a familiar snapshot of sibling rivalry and sisterly solidarity, which touches lightly on how children idealise parents. Johansson wrestles gamely with a British accent and consequently seems removed from her co-stars. A bride is supposed to earn good luck by incorporating something old, new, borrowed and blue into the ceremony. Scott Thomas obliges with a contrived explosion of family secrets at roughly the hour mark; flashbacks rendered as monochrome animations hand-painted by Iranian artist Reza Riahi; a classic three-act structure with climactic reconciliations; and salty comic relief from Jack’s mother (Sindhu Vee).

One heartfelt monologue is impeccably constructed by highlights shortfalls elsewhere in the writing and character development. Subplots with the bumbling private detective and Victoria’s rich admirer, nicknamed Le Grand Fromage (Thibault de Montalembert), who helicopters in for roughly 15 minutes, are unnecessary diversions.

– Sarah Lee