Spoilers Alert:
The romantic comedy LOVE WEDDING REPEAT sells itself as a time loop comedy of the “Groundhog Day” brand and thereby creates false expectations. We reveal why in our review of the new Netflix hit.
Can things work again between Jack and Dina (Olivia Munn)?
The film is most reminiscent of Jeffrey Blitz’ only moderately successful tragicomedy “Table 19 – Love is out of place”, which is also about watching a number of wedding guests experience what is supposed to be the most beautiful day of the bride and groom . In “Love Wedding Repeat” the focus is also on the newlywed wedding couple, but here too a calm slice-of-life narrative dominates, in which it’s a little bit about everything but not really about anything; “Slice of wedding” so to speak. It doesn’t help that a rebellious ex-boyfriend and a sudden guest at least bring a bit of life into society at times. Because the question, which was actually exciting from the beginning, whether Jack might end up with his once big crush Dina, is completely pushed into the background at times. The moments between Sam Claflin and Olivia Munn are particularly convincing; Both the chemistry and the narrative dynamics, which at least partially occur, are right here. You have to be able to root for someone. And if it’s not the bride, who is sometimes remarkably unsympathetic, on her own wedding day, then at least it’s the extremely committed brother, who Sam Claflin seems to have a lot of fun playing.
Conclusion: “Love Wedding Repeat” is the undoing of its application as a time loop comedy. It is precisely this premise that is not taken into account in the implementation. Instead, this is a subpar romantic comedy that is unfortunately neither romantic nor funny. No matter how hard Sam Claflin tries.
“Love Wedding Repeat” is now available to stream on Netflix.
