The Wedding Plan (2016) User Reviews (31)

disappointing

[mikesil · 5/10 · 4 June 2017]

I had loved the director's previous film, Fill The Void, and was eager to see this follow-up, which also featured an Orthodox protagonist facing an unusual marriage situation. The film was neither very dramatic, nor comedic, and, unlike Fill The Void, totally lacked a believable premise or plot. No problem with the acting, but I felt the screenplay was seriously lacking. So much overwrought angst! The male suitors were either pretty faces or obviously tainted; none had any character development. Some serious editing problems and mistakes seemed to leave me, and other members of the audience I talked with, baffled over certain actions and plot machinations.

By the end, I felt let down by this film. The movie plan was as thin as the wedding plan.

Like nothing you've seen before

[ReganRebecca · 7/10 · 7 June 2017]

First off: writer/director Rama Burshtein is an Orthodox Israeli woman. This informs her work an her point of view and it's so incredibly distinct from almost anything else I've ever seen. For example, while The Wedding Plan was marketed as a rom com (the title even is more generic than the original, more philosophical Through the Wall) and the movie does contain both romance and comedy, it is also an incredible introspective, philosophical, religious film.

The film is about Michal, an unmarried Haredi Jewish woman in her early thirties living in Jerusalem. Now in orthodox communities, being in your early 30s and unwed is highly unusual, especially since from around the age of 18 young men and women are set up by their parents and matchmakers on dates, which are actually rather chaste in nature and immediately get to the point of whether the couple involved have enough in common to marry. Michal has been "dating" for 10 years. She goes to a fortune teller of sorts and she discusses why she wants to marry, the type of companionship she's looking for etc. Shortly after we see her at the tasting for her wedding dinner... which quickly goes south as her fiancé abruptly confesses he doesn't love her. Michal quickly drops him, but faced with the idea of another decade of marriage she decides to force God's hand. She rents the hall, continues with dress fittings, and leaves it up to God to provide a groom for her.

Burshtein approaches the issues in the film with a beautiful honest sincerity. But for all that, the film has some flaws. I could not help comparing it unfavourably in appearance to her beautiful debut film, Fill the Void. I was also unsatisfied with how some of the characters in the film were presented. A certain twist is broadcast from a million miles away and the questions and answers that some of the dates bring are oddly unsatisfactory. Overall though the film is certainly worth viewing, especially because the perspective is so unique and it is approached with such love, compassion and knowledge.

Cute premise, not well executed.

[Quietb-1 · 5/10 · 1 June 2017]

If you see only one chick flick in Hebrew this year it's OK. It's a written and directed by movie that isn't well written or well directed. It's one of those movies where the scenes are virtually interchangeable. How many guys does she have to meet? Would one more or less matter? The cinematography is too in your face. Plenty of too close close ups.

The lead actress shleps the movie along on her back. She is on screen every second. It's a good performance with plenty of staring just past the camera lens. The ending feels forced and written, but this had to eventually be over.

It's an extremely small movie that will get limited distribution. No need to see it in a theater as it will play as well on a home platform.

The misadventures of dating in the Orthodox-Jewish community

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 21 June 2017]

"The Wedding Plan" (2016 release from Israel; 110 min>) brings the story of Michal, a young woman who happens to be an Orthodox Jew. As the movie opens, we see Michal consulting a fortune teller on what she needs to do to find a suitable man to marry, having tried for over a decade (we later learn she's had 123 dates over that span). In the very next scene, we see her with her fiancé (hurray!), who admits he doesn't love her (boo!). Michal is devastated. But in a whim, she decides to rent the wedding hall big enough to accommodate 200 people, and fix the wedding day on the 8th night of Hannukah, exactly 22 days later. She has a wedding hall, a wedding dress and not the only thing left is to find a groom. At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie. Will Michal find her man? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the second feature-length movie from writer-director Rama Burshtein. A few years ago, she surprised us all with her debut film, the exquisite "Fill the Void", which also was set in the Orthodox-Jewish community in Jerusalem.and also dealing with the theme of marriage, but in a very different way. In a way, the movie could be called "The Misadventures of Dating in the Orthodox-Jewish Community", and there are some funny moments for sure, although I wouldn't call this movie an outright comedy. The movie is helped tremendously by the charming performance of Noa Kole as Michal. She appears in virtually every frame of the movie. The movie tends to lag a bit in the middle part, and probably could've benefited from some tighter editing and shortening its run by about 15 min. I was already in my mind ready to give this a 5/10 rating, but then we come to the movie's outstanding concluding 15 min. It is an emotional wallop which I did not see coming. That's all I will say about it (mustn't spoil!!).

"The Wedding Plan" opened recently at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati (same one where I saw "Fill the Void"). The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (less than 10 people in the theater), I'm guessing the nice weather and being a weekday evening had to do with that. If you are in the mood for a foreign film that shines light on life in the Orthodox-Jewish community with mostly a light touch, I readily recommend you check out "The Wedding Plan", be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

I understood what was going to happen in minute 1

[bestfootie · 6/10 · 13 February 2023]

This film was watched with a girl. I really understood from about minute 1 what was going to happen. The character depth of everyone she meets is really not built up to any significant level.

In short, it's a chick flick, romantic, no depth, no plot, no sub layers, it's very very basic. But, you know, if you want something cute and easy to watch that will give you a comedic look into some of them nuances of the religious world, and specifically the religious dating world, it could be worth a watch.

It's way too long for what it is though too.

To spoil it all, at the very end, you don't even get to see the wedding!!! What a gross disappointment.

Humorous, thought provoking, and spiritual look at a marriage decision

[latka-2 · 8/10 · 22 October 2016]

The movie centers around the decision of one Haredi (commonly called ultra-orthodox ) Israeli Jewish thirty-something woman's decision of if/when/whom to marry. She has been having trouble finding just the right person for herself, partly because of the men she has been meeting but partly because she is an unconventional woman in a number of ways. When her engagement is broken off , she has an unusual reaction which is the linchpin for the rest of the movie including an ending which may be surprising to some.

The movie was billed as a romantic comedy; there are indeed plenty of humorous moments, but I think it's real attraction is the issues it raises about the process of deciding to get married, what one is looking for and how it can be related to issues of faith. And although it involves the Haredi Jewish world, I think the insights and themes apply to other cultures as well , while at the same time the movie provides an entertaining window into the Haredi world.

The movie is very well directed and acted and went by quickly. Contraryto another review posted here, the audience I saw it clapped heartily at the end and lingered afterwards. Recommended.

Meh

[dallas_viewer · 5/10 · 14 September 2017]

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I like the premise of the movie, but the actual execution was a big let-down.

Maybe it's because I'm American and not familiar with the Israeli sense of humor (in the same way that French humor kind of baffles me). Or maybe something was lost in translation when the sub-titles were written. (The film is in Hebrew, and the copy I saw did not have English dubbing, so I relied on the sub-titles.)

Whatever, I did not find this film amusing or enjoyable.

The film was populated by a number of characters whom we barely got to know, let alone care about. I'm still not sure who a couple of them were.

And then Michal's rejection of the engineer suitor (I'll give her a pass on pop star suitor Yoss) made no sense to me. Well, to be clear, I think I get the expectation -- "Hashem will provide", right? and on the last night of Chanukah, to be specific -- but I didn't buy it. Because maybe Hashem sent these sudden new suitors Michal's way in answer to her prayer, that's how I see it. Maybe He thought His timing was wiser than hers?

But by Michal rejecting a perfectly good suitor because he does not meet her scheduled time frame, the movie is able to achieve what I assume is its main objective: to show that if you have enough faith in Hashem, He will provide, and exactly as you requested it.

As silly as this conceit is, perhaps a worse failing of the film is in the depiction of Michal. I found her to be an unlikable, unknowable character. We don't have any reason to root for her as the movie goes along. Bridget Jones is quirky, yet we see things about her that make her oddly likable. Ditto Muriel ("Muriel's Wedding"). But Michal? Not so much.

And frankly, her current Debbie-downer attitude notwithstanding, I don't know how it is Michal isn't already married when the movie starts. Are suitable brides so plentiful in her Hassidic community that no bridegroom could be found years ago? (When the movie opens, she is engaged, but to my knowledge they don't have long engagements, so I'm assuming she and the original fiancé had only been engaged a short time as the movie opened,and she's already over 30.) Is the fact she owns a mobile petting zoo a deal-breaker in her community?

Maybe there was something said that explained everything, but if there was, I missed it. It just seemed to me that the filmmaker did not provide the type of backstory or other information that would help folks like me understand how Michal comes to find herself in her current situation when the movie starts. Perhaps to Israeli viewers, though, it all makes sense.

The only other comments I have are:

1. I dislike it when actors sob but there are no tears to be seen. (Noa Koler, I'm looking at you.)

2. Shimi was very easy on the eyes. :-) The filmmaker should have focused more on Shimi's interactions with Michal, and their friendship, throughout the film.

Good movie. Outstanding performance by Noa Kooler.

[miclahav-44624 · 8/10 · 3 January 2017]

An orthodox Jewish girl, aged 32, is looking for a man to marry and spend the rest of her life with. Unfortunately, she has had no luck in finding a husband, despite countless first dates that don't work out for her. Either the suitors she chooses to date are either not her cup of tea, or else marry someone else.

The plot of the movie is very clever and compelling. Noa Kooler's performance is outstanding. Without a doubt she deserves the awards she has won.

Yes, there is a Hollywood style happy ending, but the path the movie takes to get there, especially the twist at the end, were most enjoyable.

A chick flick for the whole family.

Strictly for the glott Kosher crowd -- From hunger.

[alexdeleonfilm · 4/10 · 15 September 2016]

Laavor et ha-Kir (Through the wall), Israeli, directed by Rama Burshtein.

This is theoretically a comedy about a stubborn religious young woman in her thirties, Michal, who desperately wants to get married before it's too late but keeps turning down all prospective suitors who show interest in her. At the beginning we meet her arranged marriage fiancé but he doesn't love her and breaks off the engagement. Against all odds Michal hires a wedding hall for 200 guests in spite of the fact that there is no groom in sight. The date is set for the end of the Hannuka holiday just twenty days away. Will her unshakably stubborn faith in G-d deliver a groom in time? All the actors are excellent, especially Noa Kooler as Michal, however, the script which starts out auspiciously with the first couple of suitors, soon turns into a stale one joke melodrama that becomes less and less convincing and more and more ridiculous as time goes by.

Hefty Ms. Burshtain and her entire entourage were present at the screening but applause at the end was polite to nonexistent . A better title Would have been "Off the Wall -- from Hunger". Strictly for the glott Kosher crowd and even then, with reservations.

Memorable

[saloy · 9/10 · 5 August 2018]

After a slow wind, this film is sweetly romantic, spiritual, with flights of funny tenderness.

Wonderful plot idea execution mediocre

[aryehc · 5/10 · 23 November 2016]

This movie had potential as the theme of marriage at a later stage is a prominent in the religious society in Israel. As for the acting, although Noa Kooler's was impressive in her performance, the movie's "beat" was kind of monotonous, and it felt as if the actors were all subject to this depressing mood. Although there was some humor, the plot dragged along.

Felt like there were almost no twists and turns in the movie, and the standstill dialogue did not create motivation to continue watching.

Overall, a wonderful plot idea, some impressive acting, and mediocre execution.

A shaggy dog story with a bit of depth

[Nozz · 8/10 · 6 October 2016]

"Through the Wall" takes the form of a shaggy dog story. A woman sets herself a deadline for finding true love. Is this guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? And so on. The movie rests largely on the shoulders of the female lead, played by Noa Kooler, and she won Israel's annual Best Actress award. Simple though its structure is, the screenplay also won the best-of-year award. It has to do not only with finding Mister Right but with the question of whether it is nobler for a marriageable young woman (or, by implication, for anyone else) to hold onto the dream or to settle. If someone holds out, is that faith or is it arrogant self- centeredness? The same question, in fact, confronted the heroine of Rama Burstein's previous film, "Fill the Void," but this one has more comical exaggeration surrounding the protagonist while the lead actress herself, despite plentiful experience in comedy, plays it straight.

Yeastily Ethnic But Incredible and Unpalatable

[marsanobill · 3/10 · 28 May 2017]

More garden-variety 'critics rave' rubbish, utterly incredible but full of yeasty ethnicity. Dumped by her fiancé just before the wedding, Michal—-desperate, delusory, needy and pathetic-—proceeds nevertheless, insisting that God Will Provide a groom. Did I mention that she's 32 and feels humiliated by her singleness? She even has the chutzpah to put our Lord on a short leash: He must provide no later than the last night of Hanukkah, 20 days away!, because she's already hired the hall. But even the Lord's choices are limited here. Michal is not only orthodox but WAY orthodox, and on top of that wants True Love. Perhaps because 'God helps those who help themselves,' she adds a second string to her bow, a matchmaker-cum- mystic who smears her face with fish guts and says all will be well. Reassured, Michael proceeds to sampling the dinner menu, inviting 200 guests, buying a gown. Intermittently, perhaps because Yahweh is working to rule, she interviews prospective grooms on her own. Now all this is possibly the makings of comedy, particularly of the madcap or screwball kind, but writer-director Rama Burshtein is mostly invested in sadcap and rueball. Laughs are few and mostly polite, the dialogue painful. Interviews with potential grooms are tense with slit-eyed suspicion--not communicative but insinuative, like encounters with the Stasi just before they get out the rubber hoses. Possibly seeking to avoid the crushing dreariness of her 2012 'Fill the Void,' or more likely to pad her sagging story, Burshtein cheats by twice introducing the same red herring. Finally she moves to a slam-bang ending that is both unconvincing to the critical and unsatisfying to the gullible. There's an unattractive hollowness to the story: marriage among Michal's sect (which another IMDb-er informs me is the Haredi (thanks!) is presented as if it were little more than a business transaction, a deal made solely with procreation in mind. Indeed at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, Michal's reliance on the Almighty has fallen so far that she offers to marry a man she's rejected before, an it can't happen only because he's on army duty and can't do the deal that very night. All of this is done over the phone. And yet we're supposed to believe that she wants True Love?

Loved it!!!

[majoq · 9/10 · 8 October 2018]

I wont get into the plot, because a lot of the people reviewing this movie did. I will just say that I loved it!! It¨s fun to watch, LOVE Noa Koler and all the things she brings to her character. I got to this movie by looking for romance movies in Amazon and it simply moved my heart and soul. Gd helps those who help themselves. And throughout the movie Michal is set on following her dream and not setting for less. The rock star is SO good looking, but Shimi has something else...he had love in his eyes. Keep your eyes open for israeli films. I will certainly do from now on.

Ponderously sloooooow and boring

[jessincalifornia · 1/10 · 18 May 2021]

This movie could have been edited down and edited better. I kept checking the progress bar to see if I was anywhere near the end. No one was really a compelling character, & although the story line wasn't too bad, it could have been tweaked to be better. Some of the scenes didn't make sense. I didn't see this as a comedy at all.

Who the heck is the severely disabled woman in the chair, and how does she play into the story line? It's a mystery!

The part before the absolute ending is confusing. There sits the bride, beautiful, waiting for the groom to show up, her hair is lovely, makeup done, dress is gorgeous...then love is professed to her....but you don't actually see the wedding. Instead we get that she is very hungry and might be hallucinating because she's been fasting.

But wait!!! At the very very very last scene--the absolute ending-- you see her with all her hair tucked under a tichel (?), which is what *married* Haredi women wear, but she has flat affect. Not everyone is culturally aware about when a tichel is worn, so the viewer is likely to be puzzled about that last camera shot of her. Two of my friends asked "what does THAT mean?" I feel I have a headache coming on after having wasted my time watching this. Of course, YMMV.

Virtually a Talmudic study of the various reasons why women marry not "men" but "this man"

[Dick-114 · 8/10 · 3 June 2017]

The main character is a twit, of course, but she learns in the process of the film and arrives where she should. By dumb luck or God's Providence? The Rabbi consulted early couldn't care less, he's concerned with her state of belief if she fails in her crackpot determination. Ask Job. The script -- and obviously, WATCH HER EYES EVERY MOMENT, the character -- is exploring that life-transforming decision all married people come to, who should she marry! She goes from a failure, a man who can tell her he doesn't love her, to at the end a man who abandons his own loveless marriage in order to marry her. God's will? Ask that well-meaning but doctrinaire Rabbi. What matters to us is that she attends every moment to her own feelings and her own desires, even her own misperceptions of those desires, and she's such a superb actress that we can too! Like a good Talmudic study, case by case through decision after decision and option after option, until the unexpected actually happens and proves itself. A film for the sentimental but also any highly perceptive intellectual -- it can satisfy both kinds. That it's the man's certainties that determine her fate and feelings at the beginning and at the end -- apparently -- is another issue I won't enter.

Rather disappionting

[proud_luddite · 5/10 · 27 January 2018]

Michal (Noa Koler) is single, Orthodox Jewish woman in her thirties and living in Jerusalem. Desperate in her desire to be married, she arranges a wedding with the intent that God will help her find a groom in time for the ceremony.

Indeed, the premise is odd but it might have worked if director/writer Rama Burshtein had taken the approach of a comical farce. As the comical moments are too few and a more serious approach is used, the film falls flat by the second half even though it's fairly enjoyable in the earlier segments.

Koler is certainly likeable in the role but her character is repeatedly and annoyingly self-defeating. After a while, I had a "Cher/Moonstruck" fantasy where I wanted to bring Cher's character into this movie and slap Michal hard in the face twice and shout "Snap out of it" and then disappear and go back to "Moonstruck". (I also had this fantasy while watching the excruciatingly long "Zodiac". In that scenario, Cher's slap victim would have been the Jake Gyllenhaal character.)

By the time the conclusion rolls around, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not it is plausible. The rest of the movie before it had already lost momentum. - dbamateurcritic.

Noa Koler is a star...

[bmennen · 8/10 · 29 May 2017]

The movie is very well done, but without a talent like Ms. Koler's, it would not be nearly as compelling, and compelling it is! It holds your interest from the opening scene to the last, and while some might consider it a chick flick, it certainly appealed to me.

What is love? What is marriage? Do faith and God fit in? Great questions, and while this movie may not answer them definitively, it certainly provides an entertaining way to ponder them.

The relationships she has with her women relatives and friends are uplifting...it's all good.

Not Worth the Watch

[VintageSoul56 · 1/10 · 19 March 2020]

Watch "Arranged" which is a similar film set in Brooklyn. Much better acting and script touching on the same subject matter.

Suspenseful and sticks with you

[JaneThree · 8/10 · 19 June 2017]

Warning - SPOILERS.

The director's style and sense of pacing isn't always what you're used to. Sometimes an entire scene will begin, at a calm, measured pace, and you have to figure out what's going on.In the scene following Michala's visit to a matchmaker, she is sitting w/her fiancé' getting ready to sample dishes for their wedding reception. I'm not usually slow on the uptake, but I didn't know what they were doing, or what their relationship was to each other until the scene was mostly over. And you'd think since the previous scene was with a matchmaker, I would, but the film lacks almost any exposition, and doesn't clue us in with shifts in pacing or energy either. No hint. Which, on balance, I think is a good thing, despite having to piece things together at times. (It also took me half the film to realize she earned her living managing a mobile petting zoo.)

Once the fiancé' tells her he doesn't love her, I'm not sure Michala is "dumped", for no question that for her, the wedding can't proceed, so she may have been the one to pull the plug.

To the suspense: I had no idea which of the men Michala "auditioned" to be her husband she'd end up marrying - if any (not all were smitten). I had no idea that the man she did marry was even in the running, yet the explanation for his emergence from the crowd at the absolute last minute makes perfect sense. I realized I didn't actually register when we'd first me this man, but not because he'd been hidden.

At the eleventh hour, with Michala under the chuppah, groomless, I was figuring either no groom would materialize, or maybe a particular character we'd met earlier would again magically show up - I'm referring to the only eligible male with whom she'd formed a connection, but who seemed impossible in every other respect.

So going into this movie blind, I never had the faintest clue how it would end. I considered every guy along w/Michala. And as soon as the movie ended, which was pretty much the minute we had our answer, I wanted to watch it again to re-watch Michala's interaction with her eventual husband, knowing what we now now.

Maybe it was lost in translation

[beech488 · 3/10 · 25 July 2018]

Perhaps you need to be Jewish to understand the subtext to this tale...but I found it hollow and badly edited. Characters were so under developed that there was several I couldn't even figure out who they were. The main girl ( I can't recall her name she was so forgettable) was like an unlikable Muriel (Muriel's Wedding). Some of the "men" were eye rolling corny - the guy with the guitar. I don't understand Hebrew so perhaps the subtitles were to blame but I was confused as to whether or not it was supposed to be a comedy and missed the mark.

Chair Girl?

[tenwex · 9/10 · 7 April 2019]

LOVED THIS MOVIE! But I'm completely at a loss about the "dying" girl in the chair. Is it Michal looking back on her life? Cut to last scene: we have Michal with head covering (as she is now married) looking a tad pale, and hunky Shimi singing: some time has passed, obviously. Where are they? What are the doing? I think the girl in the chair is signicant.

If you can't afford a dentist, watch this movie!

[Angry_Santa · 1/10 · 7 August 2018]

I really wish I'd gone to see my dentist for a root canal or even an extraction instead of watching this drivel - it would've been a far more enjoyable experience!

One-dimensional characters who never even try to develop, a story which could've been told in five minutes dragged out to more than a hundred.

I can't blame the actors; they did what they could with what was shovelled at them from the script.

Sweet, wonderful and allegorical with SUPERB acting

[catherinehg · 9/10 · 6 August 2018]

What happens when you throw yourself off a cliff 100% reliant on your faith with no parachute? Michali does, arranging a wedding for a groom To Be Provided by God. Is she crazy? Bargaining with God? Being a fool? And what should those around her do? Humor her, support her, or try talking sense to her. If you enjoy this as an Israeli chick flick fine. As character study even better. But for ensemble acting it can't be beat. Ive watched the last 15 minutes at least a dozen times. It made me think of Norma Desmond..."We had FACES!"

Who was the girl in the chair?

[stretchkitty · 2/10 · 1 April 2019]

Seriously, who was the girl in the chair?!

Half an hour into this movie I would've given it at least an eight. But by the end, which was about 20 minutes ago, I was confused.

Shimi? Really? And who was the obviously sick girl in the chair? By the end, I thought it might really be Michal and the whole thing was a fever dream.

It was a good idea, but poorly executed. Guess I won't get those two hours of my life back.

P.S. I've never reviewed a movie. It was that confusing that I had to look it up and see what other people were saying. I wanted to know if anyone knew about the girl in the chair, apparently not...