My First Wedding | |
---|---|
Directed by | Laurent Firode |
Written by | Joan Carr-Wiggin |
Produced by | David Gordian Joan Carr-Wiggin Robert Sidaway |
Starring | Rachael Leigh Cook Kenny Doughty Paul Hopkins Caroline Carver Valerie Mahaffey |
Cinematography | Vernon Layton |
Edited by | Richard Benwick Pamela Benwick |
Music by | Michel Cusson |
Distributed by | Cinema Libre Studio |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom Canada |
Language | English |
Box office | $666,154 [1] |
My First Wedding is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Laurent Firode. It stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Kenny Doughty, Paul Hopkins, Caroline Carver, and Valerie Mahaffey. It is a co-production between Canada and the United Kingdom. My First Wedding was filmed in Montreal in 2003, but did not get a release until 2006. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on 18 August 2006.
Vanessa Sinclair is about to marry her devoutly Catholic fiancée, Andre, who wants to save sex for their wedding night. As her wedding date draws nearer, Vanessa finds herself tempted by lustful thoughts and fantasizes about every man she meets. She goes to a confessional at Montreal's St. Andrew's Cathedral and confides to a priest about her dilemma. However, the man she speaks to, Nick Francis, is not actually a priest, but a carpenter who happened to be doing renovations when she dropped in. Nick, smitten with Vanessa, decides to keep up his ruse as a priest. "Father Nick" ingratiates himself into the lives of Vanessa's family and friends, who come to believe he is a real priest. While Nick becomes chummy with Andre, he seeks ways to sabotage the wedding, recruiting his sister Sandy to help him break up the impending nuptials.
The film received negative reviews for its logical implausibilities and reliance on romcom tropes. TV Guide wrote, "The complications that ensue as Nick falls in love with Vanessa and, as Father Nick, tries to sabotage her wedding, are indeed complicated and the film could be Exhibit A in any argument contending that romantic comedies encourage behavior that would get spurned swains arrested as stalkers in real life. If it were at all funny, that might be forgiven." [2]
Nick Schager of Slant Magazine opined the film "only manages to progress from plot point A to B thanks to the witlessness of its unbelievably naïve protagonists". [3] He concluded "it's the demand for an ungodly suspension of disbelief that ultimately undoes My First Wedding, from its contrived scenes of pre-ceremony charades and phony demonic possession—complete with Andre telling a Satanically babbling Nick, 'I don't speak Spanish'—to its idea that Nick could get any play after being seen wearing a 'Let’s Get Jiggy' T-shirt". [3]
Frank Lovece of Film Journal called the film " The Thorn Birds for the Maxim generation" and noted, "We're supposed to be charmed by Nick's efforts to pursue the woman of his dreams despite all obstacles, but his plan involves such slimy abuse of Vanessa's trust and faith-and continues for so long after her marriage ceremony (which he performed, making it unofficial)-that it becomes creepily obsessive." [4]
Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News wrote, "For reasons that remain between him and the confession booth, Firode considers Nick's shameless duplicity the height of romance, while Vanessa's bizarre nymphomania is presented as perfectly charming." [5]
Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American actress and television personality. She first achieved recognition as an adolescent, portraying Barbara Cooper Royer on the sitcom One Day at a Time (1975–1984), for which she won two Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film. She subsequently earned adult stardom as Gloria on the religious drama series Touched by an Angel (2001–2003), and Melanie Moretti on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015), which brought her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2012, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Rachael Sage is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. She is the founder of indie label MPress Records. Sage has released fifteen solo studio albums. Sage was named one of the Top 100 Independent Artists of the Past 15 Years by Performing Songwriter magazine. The New York Times describes Sage as "alternately channeling her inner Fanny Brice and Jewish Norah Jones".
Vanessa Joy Lachey is an American television host, model and actress. She was named Miss Teen USA in 1998. She has been a New York–based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and hosted Total Request Live on MTV. She has starred in two network sitcoms and hosted various competition and reality shows. Lachey portrayed the lead role in the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Hawaiʻi (2021–2024) for three seasons.
Stuart A. Weitzman is an American shoe designer, philatelist, and founder of the shoe company Stuart Weitzman. Weitzman has designed footwear for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
Nathalie... is a 2003 French drama film directed by Anne Fontaine, and starring Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, and Gérard Depardieu. The screenplay concerns a woman who discovers that her husband is cheating on her.
The Syrian Bride is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the village. The film's plot looks at the Arab–Israeli conflict through the story of a family divided by political borders and how their lives are fractured by the region's harsh political realities.
Natasha Wightman is an English actress who appeared in British and American films and British television productions from 1999 until 2005. Productions in which she has co-starred include Gosford Park (2001), Revelation (2001), Mouth to Mouth (2005), and V for Vendetta (2006). She also appeared in several episodes of the British TV serial State of Play.
Kenny Doughty is an English actor and director, known for playing DS Aiden Healy on ITV's Crime Drama Vera and as Sean in Stella.
Crossover is a 2006 American sports drama film. Crossover stars Anthony Mackie, Wesley Jonathan, Wayne Brady, Alecia Fears, Eva Pigford, Lil' JJ, Kristen Wilson, & AND1 streetball player Philip Champion in his film debut. It was written and directed by Preston A. Whitmore II and produced by Frank Mancuso Jr. Crossover was shot primarily in two cities in the United States, Detroit and Los Angeles. It was filmed between July 22, 2005 and August 28, 2005.
Heroes & Thieves is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released by The Inc. Records on October 9, 2007. It is co-produced by Irv Gotti, Linda Perry and Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, who produced Carlton's second album, Harmonium (2004), and Carlton co-wrote the tracks with Perry and Jenkins. It is Carlton's only album on The Inc. Records, after Irv Gotti signed her to a record deal there in late 2006, and Gotti has said that Heroes & Thieves is the first album on which he is acting as "co-pilot" rather than "dictator".
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is a 2008 American comedy film written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The film also features an ensemble cast featuring: Martin Lawrence, Nicole Ari Parker, Margaret Avery, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo'Nique, Cedric the Entertainer, Louis C.K., and James Earl Jones. The film revolves around a talk-show host having to confront both his Southern roots and entire family during his parents' wedding anniversary. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins garnered negative reviews from critics, commending the cast's efforts but relied heavily on lowbrow slapstick.
Fierce People is a 2005 independent drama thriller film adapted by Dirk Wittenborn from his 2002 novel of the same name. Directed by Griffin Dunne, it starred Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Anton Yelchin, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Evans. The film explores many facets of family and societal dysfunction, including drug abuse, mental illness, and rape.
Made of Honor is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Paul Weiland and written by Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry Elfont. The film stars Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, and Sydney Pollack, in his final screen appearance prior to his death less than a month after the film's release.
Letters to Juliet is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. This was the final film of director Gary Winick before his death on February 27, 2011. The film was released theatrically in North America and other countries on May 14, 2010. The idea for the film was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction book Letters to Juliet, by Lise Eve Friedman and Ceil Jann Friedman, which chronicles the phenomenon of letter-writing to Shakespeare's most famous romantic character.
Caroline Carver is an English actress, screenwriter, and producer best known for roles such as Princess Jessica in the TV film The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999), Ingrid in The Aryan Couple (2004), and Sandy in My First Wedding (2006).
The Only One is a 2006 Belgian comedy-drama film. The film was directed by Geoffrey Enthoven and written by Jaak Boon and Enthoven. It was named best Belgian film of 2006 by the Belgian Film Critics Association winning the André Cavens Award, and received two awards at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.
Dylan Frances Penn is an American model and actress. She is the daughter of Sean Penn and Robin Wright. Her early public roles included modeling campaigns for Gap Inc., a magazine cover for treats!, a music video appearance in Nick Jonas's "Chains" and an acting role in Elvis & Nixon.
Valerie Grant is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network. The character was created by Pat Falken Smith and introduced as the black love interest for white character David Banning. The role was originated by Tina Andrews on October 27, 1975. Andrews was replaced by Rose Fonseca in the summer of 1977. Valerie and her family take David in when he is injured in a car accident and they soon fall in love. David and Valerie become engaged in the summer of 1976 but the romance is plagued by his infidelity, his ex-girlfriend Brooke Hamilton and her mother Helen's unwillingness to accept the relationship. When David's affair with Trish Clayton results in pregnancy, Valerie ends the relationship and takes a scholarship to medical school at Howard University in 1978. Actress Diane Sommerfield took over the role in 1981 when Valerie returns as a medical intern at the hospital. She becomes involved with Abe Carver which is plagued by Val's residual feelings for David and Abe's unwillingness to get married one day. The character is written out in 1982.
If I Were You is a 2012 Canadian-British comedy-drama from Joan Carr-Wiggin starring Marcia Gay Harden, Leonor Watling and Aidan Quinn.
Beauty Remains is a 2005 Chinese-language drama film directed by Ann Hu, starring Zhou Xun, Vivian Wu and Wang Zhiwen. The film had its North American premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 17, 2006.