20140222: Horror Review--Shotgun Wedding

Shotgun Wedding

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 92 minutes, crime, comedy.
2. IMDB: 5.2/10.0 from 152 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 100% liked it from 4 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 10,503 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Danny Roew.
6. Starring:  Mike Damus as Robert Fletcher, Bonita Friedericy as Yvette (Robert's mother), Kim Shaw as Rosemary Milton, James Eckhouse as Philip 'Flip' Milton, Joel McKinnon Miller as Hank Fletcher, Kevin Christy as Ted, Kelsey Ford as Elizabeth, Megan Heyn as Pensee, Brett Stiller as Declan.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This is an extremely black humor version of wedding videos.


2. During the stupid but obligatory pre-wedding day drinking, the groom Robert accidentally shoots Pensee, the MOH (maid of honour) in the face while shooting skeet.  Then the endless layers of coverup begin.  Covering up the original injury results in deaths.


3. Yvette, the MOG (mother of the groom) and Hank, the FOG, are principal in the coverups, but Elizabeth joins in since she wants to be promoted to MOH to replace Pensee.  Apparently she just does not care about legalities.  Ted helps out as well.  The bride, Rosemary, is kept in the dark almost until the end.  A couple of the professional videographers stay quiet because they hope to get awards for their footage of the savage and criminal proceedings.


4. The whole thing looks like it is about to unravel.  However, the FOB, Philip, a four term judge running for re-election, makes it clear that nothing is going to hurt his campaign's chances.


5. Do we have a happy Hollywood ending, or does justice prevail?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Black comedy about the horror of a wedding day gone very, very bad.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 Hand held camera problems aplenty, but a good chunk of the film was shot traditionally.


2. Sound: 7/10 No problems most of the time; some of the sound from handhelds was iffy.


3. Acting: 6/10 I especially enjoyed Bonita Friedericy as the MOG, Kelsey Ford as Elizabeth, Brett Stiller as the bride's former boy friend, and Joel Miller as the FOB.  Many of the bit players were not very good.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 The script did a better job than I expected keeping the suspense up.