FilmJudge - Confetti

REVIEW

Confetti
2006
Certificate: 15 | Runtime: 100 | Director: Debbie Isitt
Starring: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Robert Webb

Confetti is a popular wedding magazine that decides to run a competition to find the best "theme wedding". After narrowing down the applicants to a tennis theme, a musical theme and a naturism theme, we follow the couples as they plan their dream days with a pair of expert wedding planners.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Confetti is the very characteristic that makes it somewhat unique. All the dialogue is improvised, which means that the tone of the film is remarkably uneven, as is the quality of the comedy. Despite the comedic talent on display, it is unreasonable to expect a constant stream of laughs from effectively ad-libbing alone. It's still superior to the very mediocre Alien Autopsy, but British comedy has some way to go if it's going to make a lasting impression this year.

In some respects it's genuinely annoying that the film is absolutely hilarious at times, because it constantly lets itself down. The dialogue is frequently snappy, sharp and free-flowing, and no character fails to generate at least the odd laugh. The problem though is that after such delightful moments the scene often goes on for too long, and usually descends into all the characters just shouting at each other. When this happens it's normally embarrassing to watch and undermines what has gone before.

Of the couples, it's only the musical pairing of Martin Freeman and Jessica Stevenson that we're ever particularly fond of, as theirs is the only relationship the film spends sufficient time developing. The naturists - Peep Show regulars Robert Webb and Olivia Colman - are quirky and quite cute, but the film seems more interested in showing them naked for cheap laughs, rather than allowing the actors to make the best of the characters. The tennis partnership - Stephen Mangan and Meredith MacNeill - is the weakest of the three, and while we're not necessarily supposed to like them, no effort has gone in to ensure that they come across as more than caricatures. The wedding planners - Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins - are excellent, and Jimmy Carr is given more to do than he had in his pathetic role in Alien Autopsy. It's also great to see Felicity Montagu playing something other than Alan Partridge's down-trodden PA, and she plays the role of the magazine's prudish editor very well indeed.

There's more than a touch of inevitability about the whole thing though, as we're never in doubt as to who's going to win. There's also the problem that when we finally see the elaborate weddings come to fruition, while briefly amusing, they go on for far too long and the final half hour struggles to find laughs.

I like the idea of Confetti - the idea of getting some of the best talent in British comedy to essentially ad-lib a film is a very interesting one. However, despite the cast equipping themselves well for the most part, the quality is too uneven, and the blame for that should lay with the overly simple yet strange premise more than anywhere else. Confetti is still good fun for a while, but it lacks the cutting edge that would make it stick in the memory, and I just can't see it having much of a lasting impact.

RECENT REVIEWS

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button