Ceremony

Released By: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Released On: 06/21/2011
Director: Max Winkler
Cast: Uma Thurman, Michael Angarano, Lee Pace
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The Film:

When you're walking by the New Release section of your local film emporium and see a title by the name of Ceremony, you may secretly wish painful suffering upon the makers of romantic comedies everywhere. If you're with your mother, you may be forced to stop and wait as she picks the case up and reads the back, exclaiming, “Oh, this one looks good!” You may shake your head and mutter under your breath that only morons like this type of drivel. This is known as “inappropriate marketing”. The cover art, the description on the back of the box, the stupid diamond on top of the “O”(making it look like an engagement ring), all add up to do an injustice to the product inside; which happens to be a well-written, well acted little comedy with something for just about everyone NOT into romance schlock.

The feature film debut of (Son of Fonzie) Max Winkler is a good one. Sam Davis (Michael Angarano), writer of some pretty twisted children's books, asks his friend Marshall to hang out for a weekend; a road trip to relive the olden days when they were close friends. Heading out of the city in their smoke-belching Mercedes, the two arrive at a tiny Native-American bed and breakfast-type place and hang out poolside in downright miserable weather. What Marshall doesn't know is that Sam has a hidden agenda in inviting him up here, and that's to act as his partner-in-crime when he crashes a wedding at a nearby beachfront home. The bride in question is Zoe (Uma Thurman), essentially a one-night stand from Sam's past, who is marrying a charming, well-known documentary filmmaker named Whit (Lee Pace).

As is to be expected, Zoe is horrified to see Sam at the beach house, but Sam has already gotten into the good graces of Zoe's raging alcoholic brother, Teddy; and before she can run damage control, Sam and Marshall are personally invited to spend the weekend by Whit. What follows is a booze and pill-laden pre-wedding party, with Sam attempting to win Zoe back. And that's most of the appeal right there…a Julia Roberts vibe, but with just enough substance abuse and wackiness to ruin it for that type of audience.

Not romantic enough to be a romantic comedy, and not dark enough to be a dark comedy, Ceremony walks a fine line, and succeeds largely because of what can only be called brilliant writing. Winkler's script is not only hilarious, it also has some stunningly rich characters, and that emphasis on development isn't just limited to the leads. The real standout of the cast is Jake M. Johnson as Teddy, who steals just about every scene that he appears in. And although it is essentially a point-and-shoot type of film, Winkler does get a few chances to show off his skills. Overall, there's really no downside to the film. It's just flat-out entertaining.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The blu-ray of Ceremony has a 2.35:1 transfer, and it looks fantastic. Some scenes do come off as a bit yellowish, but this appears to be the intent of the filmmakers. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is essentially flawless with great range, appropriate use of the surrounds and sub, and coherent dialogue and score.

Magnolia has loaded the blu-ray of Ceremony with extras. Unfortunately, the majority of them are in Standard Definition, and hard on the eyes. First up is a selection of 3 Deleted Scenes that runs just over 2 minutes. Though they don't really help the story at all, the one scene involving Teddy is pretty amusing. Some rather useless Outtakes follow, but the Extended Scene, Teddy's pre-wedding toast to the bride and groom, makes up for it.

Next up is The Making of Ceremony, which runs almost 22 minutes and features interviews with Max Winkler, Uma Thurman, Michael Angarano, and Lee Pace, who discuss the script, working with the other actors, and Max as a first-time Director.

Similar in theme is Max Winkler Makes Ceremony, an 8-minute piece in which Max discusses making the film as a first-time Director and how the character of Sam is based somewhat on himself, with some on-set footage.

Behind The Scenes Footage is approximately 7 minutes of…behind the scenes footage, with no narration or context.

HDNet: A Look At Ceremony is the usual HDNet stuff, about 4 minutes of what is essentially a commercial for the movie with some interviews and clips from the film. Presented in standard format, with some brutal interlacing and edging artifacts, “HD” shouldn't be featured anywhere in the title.

A Year In A Tent: A Film By Whit Coutell is a 4-minute clip from Whit's documentary that is shown in the film. It's pretty funny, but also suffers from bad interlacing and other issues.

The only HD content in the extra features is the inclusion of 4 trailers also available from Magnolia.

Overall:

A very good film that will probably not be seen by many who would appreciate it due to being marketed as a romantic comedy, Ceremony is definitely worth your while. Magnolia's blu-ray is a great way to see the film, though the inclusion of standard definition features, especially the ones suffering from interlacing issues, comes off as lazy; as does the inclusion of four trailers for other films, but not for Ceremony, itself.