All you need to know about Our Family Wedding is that the happy ending comes courtesy of a goat overdosed on Viagra, humping Forest Whitaker.
Movies like this are where Oscar winning careers go to die.
Our Family Wedding should embarrass Whitaker and each of his co-stars, perhaps except Carlos Mencia, whose chief attribute as an actor is that he's a so-so standup comedian. They play the fathers of an interracial couple in love, and have no love lost between them.
The rift is painfully laid out when flashy radio host Brad Boyd (Whitaker) gets his illegally parked sports car towed by garage owner Miguel Ramirez (Mencia). An argument rapidly sinks to bigoted insults. Neither man knows their children (America Ferrera, Lance Gross) are planning to marry. Hilarity is intended to ensue.
Before you can say Guess Who's Going Out to Dinner, the families meet at a fancy restaurant and yell a lot. Then they gather for brunch and yell some more. The goat is supposed to be part of the reception dinner. Food brings out the worst in these characters who in turn bring out the worst in the actors playing them.
Our Family Wedding does contain those "awwww" moments when marriages are saved, or romance is allowed to proceed. It contains many more awful ones, like Miguel dragging his future son-in-law to the police station for a fingerprint check, and getting busted on an outstanding warrant of his own. Whenever Brad and Miguel seem ready to bond, something causes them to flail at each other again.
That is, until the goat springs into action. Then Our Family Wedding goes from being abysmal to merely baa-d.
Steve Persall can be reached at Persall@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8365. Read his blog, Reeling in the Years, at blogs.tampabay.com/movies.
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