Marital bliss and family strife mixed with humor

Our Family Wedding is a hilarious comedy drama that embraces several aspects of family and relationships.  Marcus (Lance Gross) and Lucia (America Ferrera) are forced to decide if they will stay true to family loyalties and traditions, or if they will boldly move forward with their own plans of marital bliss.  The latter proves to be nearly impossible with the competitive ego-stabbing that goes on between their fathers, Brad Boyd (Forrest Whitaker) and Miguel Ramirez (Carlos Mencia). 

Marcus and Lucia are planning to get married.  They decide to tell their families by inviting them all out to dinner.  With insults flying in every direction, dinner turns into a disaster.  Both families bitterly accept the challenge of creating a memorable wedding for the bride and groom-to-be.  The biggest part of the challenge is making it all happen in three weeks. 

For a single parent, Boyd has done a great job raising Marcus to be a responsible young man.  He  truly owns his singleness by having random one-night stands with women who are as young as his son.  He blames his popularity and lack of control on his profession as a well-known talk radio host.  He crosses the line when he gets romantically involved with his longtime lawyer and best friend, Angela (Regina King).  Angela catches Brad with another woman and realizes that she may not be the one that makes the moral difference in Brads life. 

Miguel and Sonia Ramirez (Diana-Maria Riva) are proud parents of two beautiful girls, Lucia and Izzy (Anjelah Johnson).  They have done well for themselves over the years by building their own towing and auto mechanic business.  It becomes obvious that in all they have done to provide the best for their girls, they have forgotten the most important part of their relationship – each other.

When Lucia and Marcus begin to conform to how their families believe their wedding  should be, they find themselves growing further apart and questioning if they are doing the right thing.  As the days and weeks quickly go by, Brad and Miguel manage to make the wedding plans more about them.  They are brought to their senses when they realize that their behavior is doing more harm than good.  These two proud papas learn that sometimes the things that makes us different from other cultures are the same things that have the power to connect us.   

This film was able to capture many social and relationship issues of today with heavy humor.  The moviegoer will be engaged in continuous laughter.  The cast and supporting cast is packed with powerhouse comedy actors.  Director Rick Famuyiwa put together the perfect crew and made it happen.  Supporting actress Anjelah Johnson was right on target with her sarcastic punch lines.  It was great to see Forrest Whitaker cross over from serious dramatic roles to being a laid-back deviant.  Hopefully there will be more to come.

This film will be one to go down in the history books and in personal libraries to watch over and over again.