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Movie Review: The Wedding Plan

Mike Tyrkus

Noa Koler in "The Wedding Plan."

When thirty-two-year-old Michal is blindsided by her fiancé, when he calls off their wedding barely a month before the scheduled date, the determined young woman decides to carry on with her preparations, trusting that fate will find her a suitable groom. Such is the setup for The Wedding Plan, one of the more unorthodox, yet wildly rewarding romantic comedies you may see this summer.

During the month following being prematurely left at the altar, Michal (played with irresistible charm by Noa Koler) must not only plan her wedding, but she also decides to put her happiness on the line to find someone special to spend the rest of her life with. She predictably encounters a few would-be suitors, having a couple near catastrophic dates along the way, and, of course, learns a few things about herself as well.

On the surface, The Wedding Plan is exactly the kind of movie that seems like it would be the perfect vehicle for an actress like Julia Roberts, during her romantic comedy heyday of course, or perhaps even Kristen Wiig could give the concept a run for its money, but then that would more than likely change the entire tone of the piece as it would undoubtedly ditch the secular heavy plot to deal more with a “romanticized” Hollywood love story of the “will they or won’t they” variety. With that in mind, the casting of Koler as Michal and the work the actress delivers here is what truly sets The Wedding Plan apart. I cannot stress enough how wonderfully the actress plays her part. In a film like this, everything hinges upon whether you’re invested in the main character’s wellbeing. Before the middle of this film, I found myself thinking just how angry I was going to be if everything didn’t work out well for Michal (something I haven’t felt about characters in a movie for in a very long time).

Writer/director Rama Burshtein does a fine job guiding the story through one episode after another as we gracefully proceed to the inevitable wedding at the end of the film. In this way, the film proves far more audience-friendly than Burshtein’s earlier, similarly themed, and possibly more widely adored, Fill the Void (2012).

Sure, the outcome of The Wedding Plan may be a bit predictable, as are all films cut from the same cloth, but the journey pays off in this case. Again, this wouldn’t be possible without Koler’s likability as Michal. She makes it easy to hope that this particular bride’s wedding plan is a success.

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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