A Wedding (1978)

What a shame. It starts out as a funny, well-observed tapestry of behavior in the best Altman tradition, but somewhere along the line keeping all fifty-odd characters straight (not to mention actually giving them something to do besides stand around in fancy clothing) becomes too much of a chore for ol' Bob. In the second half of the film, he loses his grip on the proceedings and allows his cynicism to run wild, which makes for a rather discouraging experience. If the director thumbs his nose at his own characters, why should we bother watching them? Does this film really amount to anything besides "Look how embarassing and gauche the nouveau riche are"? Has some good moments, but it's not much really.

Grade: C+