Destination Wedding (2018) User Reviews (484)

A cynic's view on romance

[AfricanBro · 7/10 · 11 August 2021]

It is the absolute opposite of every adjective you'd use to describe a romance movie. This has no magical moments or an amazing scene when the two characters meet or fall in love. I generally think Keanu Reeves doesn't do much acting, his character is usually the same in every movie, but in this it was perfect casting. Winona Ryder as well. Him being him, Winona being Winona, it felt very genuine, none of the conversation seemed forced, it's like you're a fly on the wall following two strangers through a weekend.

It's anticlimactic but somehow keeps you interested all throughout with the dialogue, sarcasm and the lead characters who find each other despicable. And that brings out several funny scenes as well.

I'm surprised the rating isn't higher but then again it isn't a movie for everyone, it's very "anti-romantic" and only two characters speak throughout the entirety of the film which some people don't enjoy or appreciate. But this is a special movie. Reminds me of Before We Go and the Before trilogy, just bile and rancor instead.

Cynically quirky

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 19 July 2019]

Definitely not your average rom com, full of cynicism, sarcasm, and dry humor. Ryder and Reeves make the perfect pair, there rapid fire responses make for hilarious banter. Storyline goes a little slow sometimes, and the same conversations are repeated throughout, but you can't help but relate. The hideous imposition of someone else's wedding and the certain joy of finding someone as cynical as you.

This was a wonderful movie experience...

[paul_haakonsen · 7/10 · 8 June 2019]

"Destination Wedding" turned out to be a wonderfully offbeat movie, and I was genuinely entertained throughout the entire movie. I had initially expected it to be just another generic romantic comedy given the fact that it had Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves on the cast list.

Writer and director Victor Levin had really managed to come up with something unique here. While the movie is set around a romantic topic, it is approached from a side angle, as the two characters aren't the ones getting married, but instead are two fringe characters attending the wedding of their half-brother and former husband. And it worked out so nicely that both Frank (played by Keanu Reeves) and Lindsay (played by Winona Ryder) were characters deeply troubled by issues.

This was definitely one of the better performances that I have seen from Winona Ryder in a long, long time, and I will say that she was really well-cast for the role of Lindsay. And while one might argue that Keanu Reeves is reinventing himself with the "John Wick" movies, then he is phenomenal as Frank in "Destination Wedding", because he really nailed the offbeat character so well. And put together, then Ryder and Reeves really have fantastic chemistry on the screen.

I am glad that writer and director Victor Levin opted not to go for a traditional romantic comedy here, and instead giving us "Destination Wedding" as it turned out to be. If you haven't already seen this wonderful movie, then you definitely should take the time to do so if you are given the chance. This was a wonderfully humorous and memorable movie.

Quirky rom-com with only two characters, meeting at a destination wedding.

[TxMike · 7 October 2018]

I managed to see this on Amazon streaming. As it began I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to finish it, and at the 7 minute mark both characters seemed so dysfunctional that I considered abandoning it, but I didn't.

While there are several characters listed, only two of them speak, all the others might as well be background extras. It is a unique approach but it works pretty well.

Keanu Reeves is Frank and Winona Ryder is Lindsay. They meet, sort of, while waiting to board a plane, but it is all friction. Then they end up on an 8-passenger plane to San Luis Obispo, and they are seated next to each other. As they compare notes it turns out they are both headed to the same destination wedding in a Paso Robles vineyard. In fact she is the groom's old girlfriend and he is the groom's brother.

All this makes for a number of funny situations, the enjoyment of the viewing depends on how well one likes the two actors. He is jaded, doesn't believe relationships can ever work out beyond quick encounters. She is the romantic, she believes everyone has a special person somewhere in the world.

The funniest scene is when they encounter a mountain lion as they take a walk after the wedding. Then out of character get amourous with each other.

I suspect many viewers will really hate this experimental movie but I enjoyed it as something quite different.

Actors playing real people.

[hjalsayegh · 7/10 · 17 September 2018]

John Wick as a grumpy, petty, cheap, middle aged man that really needs to visit an ENT specialist

Winona Ryder has been single for so long she forgot how to talk to people.

Both smartasses are cynical type that mumble sarcastic comments about everyone else in the room from the corner without noticing how bitter and envious they sound.

The pacing is slow and awkward at times making it seem less like a movie and more realistic, like they were real people or something.

It's awkward, witty, funny, smart and a special kind of sweet. The most realistic rom-com I've seen in ages and a definite must see. I don't get the negative reviews, the one flaw I see is that the leads are too sexy for the "that one loser that came to the wedding without a date" role they were playing but hey I they're good so what!

Awkward comedy .. Awkward romance .

[Aktham_Tashtush · 7/10 · 8 September 2018]

The movie itself was a big pile of awkwardness ,,, the plot is simple and the scenario is a bit predictable but it has a fresh sweetness and i really love Keanu Reeves ,, and he is actually funny ,, gotta watch his appearance in the "Swedish Dicks" he was hilarious ...

The whole screenplay looked a bit like Ethan Hawke's "Before Sunrise " but funnier and has a nice closed ending.

The cast,, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder chemistry was shining in abundance it all reflected positively on the movie.

Recommended.

A dialogue based play that marks the fourth movie Ryder and Reeves do together.

[siderite · 7/10 · 30 December 2019]

Somebody must have said to them "Get a room already" so they did in this romantic comedy about very articulate and attractive yet magically single people that consider live pointless and hopeless and then enjoy their misery together way too much. The other characters in the movie were on purpose left in the background which basically makes this a two people play.

I have to say that the dialogue was witty and fun, but it went for too long and lost of its quality as it went along. Then it got to the mandatory romantic connection between the two characters, which felt a bit pointless. I mean, it's funny to watch the two grumpy old men from Muppets comment on the destination wedding of annoying people, but then making them fall for each other at the end is just gross.

Bottom line: wholly predictable, all except the dialogue which was actually fun up to a point.

Like watching a high school play

[elizabethcaroline · 3/10 · 15 October 2018]

I love Keanu but he does not belong in this role. And Winona has none of the usual quirky crazy we love her for. The "movie" sounds like two actors reciting their lines in rehearsal, with no emotion. For so much dialogue, they should at least play off each other.

An anti-depression pill!

[sparsh-hardik · 10/10 · 20 August 2019]

Lovely, sweet and full of beautiful arguments! I regret not watching it earlier. The whole movie is the dialogues; one can call it a sitcom movie, driven by only two characters put in the various situations. Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves are impeccable in their performances. This 85 minutes long verbal drama is an anti-depression pill.

Intelligent humour. Real life for a change

[HelenMary · 7/10 · 5 July 2019]

As has been said, Ryder and Reeves are the only speaking actors in the film, acting against both beautiful scenery and small sets in what looks a very low budget production but doesn't lack anything for that. From the first scene, the dialogue is fast, witty and more realistic than most rom-coms. I enjoyed it from the get-go. The scenes would make an excellent stage play, as you're engrossed in the dialogue. You have to concentrate to keep up with the asides and references.

Ryder and Reeves have great chemistry on screen and clearly know each other really well so the awkward repartee and situations are made more cringeworthy with good acting rather uncomfortable people. I would not be surprised if a lot was ad-libbed but I've not read that anywhere. Their third pairing in a film (Bram Stoker's Dracula and Private Lives of Pippa Lee - although not opposite each other in the latter) they are great together, and I'd happily watch them in other films.

It is laugh out loud funny but also in your head happy funny and I'm sure it will bear repeat watching. It would make a funny audiobook, but their facial expressions and body language are superb and add a lot to the film. They're so natural in it. For Reeves doubters, his step away from sci-fi, action and monosyllabic "woodenness" please see this and see a great dry comedic actor with brilliant timing. Actually both of them have had detractors (I love her in Reality Bites but many find her delivery annoying). Both characters are bitter, cynical and world-weary but their lack of joi de vivre is surely more true to life than peppy teens mooning over lost love but bounding into a relationship with a hop and a skip and it all being rosy, with wedding bells not far behind. For forty-fifty-something's (or whatever age they were playing - they both don't seem to age much) this film is relatable on many levels. Both of them embody their baggage brilliantly and I'm sure they must have related to some of it too - apparently both being unlucky in love themselves. Whilst we can relate to their baggage and bitchiness, they're both nice people. She is sweet and trusting and he is - for all his hatred of intimacy - a gentleman and a decent chap.

I don't think I could fault the film aside from a few potential wine glass continuity errors... it really doesn't lack for its simplicity, originality or acting close up style.

There is no nudity, not much bad language (conversational expletives of annoyance or surprise rather than as punctuation), some graphic sex references and a clothed sex scene which some viewers may find cringeworthy - that's the point - and reference to Frank's in the "sweet spot" size wise, straight "balletically formed" penis has been widely advertised/reviewed so perhaps not for younger teen watching.

For adults. And I don't mean it's rated 18... I just don't think younger adults would understand this or get the humour. Besides, why let them in on the secret angst and baggage they have to look forward to, let them have their sweet romcoms with smushy Hollywood endings while they can.

The apropos tag line: check your baggage.

Witty and hilarious. Great date night or girls night viewing.

odd one

[mimosveta · 4/10 · 11 September 2018]

Two horrible people meet at the wedding at a far away destination, and bond over hating on everybody and everything else. they hook up, and make you never want to find a true love in your life.

A must destination

[n-kefala · 8/10 · 9 September 2018]

Watching unpleasant characters onscreen isn't always a fun thing to do, so casting Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder is very smart. They're both charismatic. In their fourth film together, are clearly having a great chemistry, and they won me over. Ryder is a gifted actress, and Reeves, manages to turn his signature woodenness into comedy. And together? It's a powerful force. This story about two narcissistic, cynical characters could quickly have become irritating, but writer-director Victor Levin takes an interesting approach to nearly every scene and his dialogue is relentless. This film isn't the romantic comedy that audiences are hoping for but it's very entertaining and is a must movie theater destination. nikisreviews.gr

Very Talky, but Quite Engaging

[itsbobr · 7/10 · 27 December 2018]

Frank (Keane Reeves) and Lindsay (Winona Ryder) go to a wedding they really don't want to go to. We see that these two people are quite cranky and very unhappy with their lives. They meet waiting to board a plane and end up ragging on each other. They sit together on the plane and continue ragging on each other. Lindsay is the girl the Groom (Ted Dubost) dumped 6-years earlier. Frank is the half brother of Groom.

The wedding is at a winery in California and the music during some landscapes was exceptionally good.

Frank and Lindsay find themselves at a table a day before the wedding and end up ragging on the wedding, the people at the wedding including the bride and groom and still a little on each other. In time they warm to each other but keep protesting otherwise......Well, Frank does most of the protesting, and Lindsay seems to engage and welcome this relationship, but still maintaining some distance. You'll see.

This is quite talky but very engaging as the topics go all over the place. This Is a two-man show with never ending banter between Frank and Lindsay. Some of the banter is funny, some not, some intelligent, some not. It will be up to you to decide what you find funny or intelligent.

his movie is a complete 2-man show. You never hear anyone else talk. Frank and Lindsay see and meet others, but you don't.

Sometimes the talk by Frank or Lindsay goes on for too long and shorter talks would have had more impact.

Frank and Lindsay do have sex, and Lindsay is enthralled about it, but Frank only calls it an interlude, nothing more.

Notables: D. Rosh Wright as Frank's mother; Greg Lucy as Frank's Stepfather; Donna Lynn Jones as Frank's Stepfather's Girlfriend. These people are always referred to, but we never meet them.

We know Keanu Reeves is John Wick and no matter what movies he plays in he will always be John Wick, just like Sean Connery will always be Bond, James Bond. But in here Keanu Reeves is Frank and for those critics who say he cannot act, well, they should see this movie., He does a great job and the important thing is that we forget he is John Wick as we watch. See?

Both Reeves and Ryder are terrific in this movie. I saw good chemistry and their banter flew all over including how each sees the other. Quite good.

The very last scene will tell you everything you need to know. Kudos.

This was good, but I just keep hoping that we are closer to seeing John Wick 3. Ha!. (7/10)

Violence: No. Sex: Yes, but you see nothing only their heads on a hillside and still talking up a storm. Nudity: No. Humor: Yes and no, you decide. Language: Yes, a lot of it. Rating: B

Straight off the Script

[matdemon · 3/10 · 22 September 2018]

This movie is an example of two people reading scripted dialogue, word for word, without any belief that either of them 1) believe what they are saying and 2) are actually coming up with the words themselves.

The characters don't even process one another's lines; it's simply machine-gun mouth-fire from one "witty" bullet of dialogue to the next.

For anyone who has already thought about the points these characters are trying to hard to convey, nothing about the dialogue is interesting.

All-in-all, a boring movie filmed in one weekend that has no overall redeeming qualities. It felt like play rehearsal.

It is very much not my cup of tea

[Gordon-11 · 5 October 2018]

This film tells the story of a man and a woman who meets in a destination wedding.

I can't quite believe the production of this film. The film is basically made of long static shots. Keanu and Winona talk for minutes, and the camera does not move at all. The film is very dialog heavy; basically the two characters talk all the time in different backgrounds. The supporting characters do not talk at all, not even at the wedding ceremony. In the first half of the film, Keanu and Winona are very wooden. In the wedding dinner scene, Keanu's hands are literally motionless for about five minutes. I really thought his hands were tied up, until he finally raises his arms to leave the sat. Another thing that really bothers me is that no supporting character you see on the screen talks. Even if there is someone else's voice, which happens only 2-3 times, it is a person you cannot see on the screen. The film seems to be describing an alternate universe where everyone else is unable to speak. I would have wished for something else other than them two talking. Even if the film contains a shot of the masseur saying good afternoon, the taxi driver saying where you are going etc, it would have made a lot of difference. I am a romantic comedy fan, but this is very much not my cup of tea.

So much dry wit, I loved it!

[cgvsluis · 7/10 · 27 September 2022]

"Is that what you dreamed of, a career in reverse fascism?"-Frank

Lindsey and Frank are the two most unpleasant and disagreeable wedding guests at a destination wedding. They meet in the airport and end up seat mates and reluctant companions throughout the events of Frank's brother who is Lindsey's ex-boyfriend's wedding somewhere in California.

These two miserable people snipe at each other and exchange barbs with one another and it is like watching a train wreck...because you kind of know what's going to happen, although I did not expect a mountain lion.

I liked this film against my own better judgment, it's angst made me laugh and as a child of the 80's I absolutely love both Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder.

I recommend this to angsty 40/50 somethings...I think they will all get a kick out of this film. Not for true romantics or the weak of heart...but for those with a dry wit and sense of humor.

Jaded

[ferdinand1932 · 6/10 · 8 September 2018]

This one is for jaded cynics, and just like Beatrice and Benedict in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", the two leads in this film argue, bicker, moan, complain, cavil, insult, deride, mock and despise nearly every form of romantic love. Every romantic cliche, for sure.

As the principals do it with some intelligence and verbal ability this makes a pleasant change from the dire and moronic Rom Coms that have been served up over recent years.

There no is no reason to suggest that this offering will revive the Rom Com genre although its presentation may remind audiences that words uttered with some wit (nice platitudes are not required) are necessary to make a romantic comedy. All the sparring demonstrates intelligence and brains expressed through words can be alluring.

While the arguments over the merits of love seem nasty and cynical to audiences accustomed to sentimental pabulum the idea of debating love is a long one in poetry.

The film is not without imperfections. The dialogue talks past the other character often to make, or score, points. The ending is perfunctory and should have been written better and there are parts which echo too much, which is inevitable with the material and premise.

Even so, it holds the attention because it runs against the grain of this genre in commercial movies and Reeves and Ryder keep the rhythm sprung. Where Reeves is sour, melancholy; Ryder peppers him and her character pulls the thread along. In getting these performances, the director has done the job.

Awkwardly funny

[claudia-a-cancela · 7/10 · 22 September 2018]

Great performances from two talented actors. Very tough work for both! Many long one-shot scenes terrifically achieved.

I want to see some acting not reading

[jessie_pupu · 1/10 · 15 September 2018]

I want to see a movie with acting, not just reading dialog, otherwise i'd rather to read a book.

Funny and charming

[shell-74334 · 8/10 · 8 January 2019]

I laughed almost from start to finish. Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are adorable together as two ridiculous people in a ridiculous situation. Anyone who likes dry humor and flawed, broken characters will love this movie.

a few small chuckles

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 2 October 2018]

Frank (Keanu Reeves) and Lindsay (Winona Ryder) are pessimistic strangers who are forced to sit together on a small commuter plane to San Luis Obispo. They are horrified to discover that they're going to the same wine country destination wedding. The groom Kevin is Frank's estranged brother and Lindsay's estranged ex-finance. They bond over their common distain of the wedding and the world in general. They have connecting hotel rooms. There's a mountain lion. Maybe love can even conquer these two.

They used to be the brightest of stars. Nowadays, they are still stars in the Hollywood constellation but they are no longer the brightest around. They don't have the appeal of experience. They still play a little young for their age. There is something sad about that which fits their characters. There are a few small chuckles. These two won't shut up even while screwing on a hillside. The movie is just these two talking and talking and complaining and talking. Some of these scenes get extended too long. They need to find the punchline and transition to the next scene. Overall, these two work well together once I acclimatize to their roles.

Disjointed Talk Fest

[andrewrye-06535 · 4/10 · 10 September 2018]

I enjoyed both the lead actors in previous movies and I know they can both do rom-com comfortably, unfortunately the writing let them down.

Watching this was like watching a foreign movie with subtitles. Concentrate too much on the talking/bickering and you miss what's actually going on. The rapid fire talking was too much. Most of the time it made no sense and was far too quickly delivered, often before the other had finished talking. It looked like two experienced actors going through their lines without the pause that is needed between replies, and it's these pauses that allow the commentary to be digested by the audience (you and me) in preparation for a good response. It could have been funny but wasn't.

And when you did listen to the commentary it didn't make any sense and didn't flow as you would expect, quickly, intelligently and short. There was no spark between the lead actors that ensure a hook up so, they just hooked them up anyway. A dismal display of writing and directing.

It's a fail from me, 4 because the actors stuck with it to it's excruciating end.

Fun and engaging

[Darth_Osmosis · 8/10 · 8 September 2018]

Funny movie about two broken cynics finding each other. The dialogue is incredibly witty and believable, which is great cause it's basically two people talking the whole time. It does not drag or overstay it's welcome, a nice 90 min movie! Both Ryder and Reeves are on top form!

Awkwardly Endearing

[jasminn_tan · 6/10 · 30 August 2019]

Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder have great chemistry and they're both really good at being kind of awkward at times. This movie was funny but I won't say it's a romantic comedy because half the time, their characters were bickering with each other.

When you need something to sedate you

[misslm · 1/10 · 10 October 2018]

This movie is absolutely terrible. It's awkward, dull, unenthusiastic and pointless. It's 1 hour and 45 minutes of these two having one monotone conversation after another in a feeble, generic and ironic attempt to be funny. If I need to get some sleep, I'll forgo the Ambien and put on this snoozer fest, and listen to Keanu and Winona read me to sleep.