Simple Wedding is such a breath of fresh air to experience during a film festival. Unique walks of life are not unfamiliar things to witness during the LA Film Festival, although I can confidently say I have never seen a film like this one, despite using some familiar tropes.
Nousha (Tara Grammy) is at the end of her dick-athalon as we will come to find out after we first meet her during a brilliant introductory scene where she embarrasses herself in front of her boyfriend’s family, much to the chagrin of her scheming mother (the brilliant Shohreh Aghdashloo). Nousha doesn’t want to settle down with some Persian man but her mom loves to meddle. To get away from her troubles (and a planned meeting with a suitor) attend the rally for one of her coworkers, thereby setting up a chance encounter with Alex Talbot (Christopher O’Shea), a bisexual feminist artist, and they fall in love and begin cohabiting. This does not sit well with her parents and in a hilarious turn of events, the two agree to get married. Their lives only get more complicated and stressful from that point.
Simple Wedding is both incredibly simple and incredibly nuanced. In any moment, co-writers Sara Zandieh and Stephanie Wu will hit you with some introspection about sexuality, culture, or the institution of marriage. It’s admirable, even praise worthy, the way they can move along past topics that other movies might spent their whole run-time dealing with. It’s very refreshing to have a bisexual love interest that’s not portrayed as a horny bastard. Alex Talbot is bi and happens to be in love with a woman, so let’s move on to the next story point. That kind of “this is how it is, dealt with it” feeling is nice to experience. The actors play it this way too. Everyone is so brilliant at imbuing their characters with richness and depth. It begins with Tara Grammy, a revelation as Nousha, and continues on down throughout the cast (Aghdashloo and Rita Wilson are the MVPs).
However, there’s a feeling of airlessness in parts of the picture that seem to work against the movie. It’s a comedy but when everything is floating so lightly, does any element truly land? Simple Wedding moves very quickly towards the titular wedding and the hijinks that ensue, and for my money doesn’t take the time to settle us in to just what these people like about each other. It’s great to know that Alex is sexually attracted to Celine Dion and Nousha can do a good impression, but the foundation for a potential marriage that is not. By about midway through the film. I found myself wanting more of the foundation grounding aspects of their relationship, in part because everything around them is heightened to the nth degree. I don’t think the movie is at fault for wanting to be light, but the approach taken in the writing and how director Sara Zandieh calibrates the performances, means that some moments feel a bit cliche.
Despite this, the movie consistently rights itself and ends up being very enjoyable. Simple Wedding’s cleverness is it’s best asset and Zandieh has delivered a truly unique picture.