Imagine The Office’s sense of humour on a larger scale and you’ll have some idea of what director, Debbie Isitt appears to be trying for with this British mock-u-mentary. The film focuses on three couples, each with their own issues, vying to tie the knot in the most original way. Thus we have a pair of super-competitive tennis players, two opinionated naturists, and two musical fanatics who long for a Busby Burkeley extravaganza, all battling it out to win a dream house, courtesy of Confetti magazine.
All the greats are here - Martin Freeman (The Office), Jessica Stevenson (Spaced), Robert Webb (Peep Show) and Green Wing's Stephen Mangan among others, and let’s not forget the ludicrously camp wedding planners, Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins. With such a talented cast and improvised from start to finish, Confetti holds the promise of something truly great, but there still seems to be something missing.
Instead of focusing on what should be the bonding element of competition, we seem to have a bit of an emotional mish-mash as each couple comes to blows over various rom-com clichés, ie, the jealous fiancé, the interfering mother-in-law, the father who “was never around” but decides to show up. You know the score. All of this is handled in an appealing way and you never lose your affection for the characters involved, but it does tend to leave much of the film’s comedy elements up to the wedding planners, which, after a while, gets a bit tedious. After all, we paid to see funny stuff from the people we know can do it so well, and we end up with a lot of gay gags that have been explored before.
There are however, some brilliant, comic genius moments. Stephen Mangan’s physical outburst of jealousy towards his tennis coach, and the whimpering wedding planners that follow it more or less make the first half of the film. Martin Freeman’s best man, (Marc Wootton) and his musical attempts to sabotage the ceremony with piano led lyrics such as:
“you used to be so cool, now you can’t stop w*nking on about your sofa”
will have you sniggering into your popcorn. Mark Heap (Spaced, Green Wing) makes a welcome appearance as the discerning registrar, and hats off to Robert Webb, who spends pretty much the entire film completely starkers. The man’s got balls.
Confetti’s not as memorable as you’d like it to be. There just aren’t enough laughs to render this a classic piece of British comedy, and it does at times seem to lose itself in its attempts to be a little too poignant for the likes of the audience this cast is likely to attract. But with so many familiar faces and “situations we’ve all been in”, you’ll definitely spend a couple of hours with a smile on your face when you say “I do” to this one. - By Becky Wicks
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