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CONFETTI
Directed by: Debbie Isitt.
Produced by: Ian Flooks & Ian Benson.
Director of Photography: Dewald Aukema.
Edited by: Nicky Ager.
Music by: Paul Englishby.
Released by: Fox Searchlight.
Country of Origin: UK. 94 min. Rated: R.
With: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Stephen Mangan, Meredith MacNeill, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman, Vincent Franklin, Jason Watkins, Felicity Montagu, Jimmy Carr & Alison Steadman.

Vivienne (Felicity Montagu) and Antoni (Jimmy Carr) run Confetti, a British magazine that gushes over the latest wedding trends. And rather than have another annual contest where another photogenic girl in another white gown gets awarded for having the year’s most beautiful wedding, Vivienne and Antoni have decided to spice things up this year by crowning the most original wedding. Things get a little wacky as the three finalist couples battle each other to win Confetti’s first ever wedding contest.

Matt (Martin Freeman) and Sam (Jessica Stevenson) are a shy and plain-spoken couple who want to have a ceremony in the style of an MGM musical. Josef (Stephen Mangan) and Isabelle (Meredith MacNeill) are tennis pros looking to have their nuptials infused with their favorite sport. And naturists Michael (Robert Webb) and Joanna (Olivia Colman) want a wedding that’s both outside and in the nude, although Confetti’s editors want the wedding to be neither.

Shot almost entirely as a full-length improv feature, the comparisons to Christopher Guest are inevitable. But you have to be Christopher Guest to make a Christopher Guest film. There’s a lack of subtlety in all of Confetti’s perms and chiffon. While the actors are all fantastic at creating their characters and completely improvising both dialogue and entire storylines, they have traded the natural and easygoing absurdity of a fake documentary for the out-and-out absurdity of a mockumentary. The result is an overproduced spectacle similar to the weddings that the film attempts to satirize.

That’s not to say that it’s the fault of the cast, which is comprised of current stars of British comedy, each one appearing in everything from Peep Show, I’m Alan Partridge, and The Office to Shaun of the Dead. When actors are given complete creative license, they need to be pulled together or reigned in by a strong director. That didn’t happen here. The one couple that was genuinely brilliant from start to finish was the wedding planners, Archie (Vincent Franklin) and Gregory (Jason Watkins), hilarious in their valiant efforts to satisfy each engaged pair.

Besides having an epilogue that is actually cribbed from Guest's Best in Show and the most predictable and dull ending possible, there’s a tendency to go for obvious jokes and a penchant for tension-filled storylines, which are left unresolved by the film’s glossy climax. In the end, it’s just not as nuanced as a Guest flick or as funny as a well-scripted comedy like Little Miss Sunshine. Zachary Jones
September 15, 2006