OUR FAMILY WEDDING

OUR FAMILY WEDDING

I admit, that ever since Forest Whitaker won his Oscar for Performance by and Actor in a Leading Role for "The Last King of Scotland", I have been waiting with baited breathe for his next great performance.

I'm still waiting.

Whitaker isn't going to win anything other than the paycheck he earned for his part as Brad Boyd in "Our Family Wedding". On the other hand, I didn't run from the theater screaming either.

Cutting right to the chase, the film centers on Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross) and Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera) and their decision to get married. As you guessed, he's black and she is Mexican. Not exactly the world shaking mixed marriage as we had in "Guess Whose Coming to Dinner" but good enough.

Their marriage represents the numbers two and three markets in the movie industry and this is Fox Searchlight's way of addressing both at once.

Marcus is a doctor about to leave for Laos as the Doctors Without Borders program and Lucia doesn't want to let him get away.

She has quit law school and is ready to take his side as his wife doing goody-goody stuff. But she hasn't told her family any of that. She hasn't even told them he is black.

They are going to take care of all this in one fell swoop at a small dinner with both families to announce the wedding. What the don't know is that his dad and her dad already met earlier that day...and it didn't go well.

You see his dad is a successfull playboy radio personality who drives a Bugatti and her dad (played by Miguel Ramirez who hasn't done anything since "Heartbreak Kid" in 2007) owns a towing company that towed the Bugatti for illegal parking. They don't like each other. So you already know how the surprise dinner goes.

But the two dads have to get beyond their distaste and hurry to put on a wedding for their children. But will it be African-American influenced or Mexican influenced. Where will it be? Will there be a goat to slaughter for the feast? what kind of Mariachi/R&B music will their be? There are a ton of things that need to be worked out - in a sometimes hilarious fashion - especially since it is decided the wedding will be held in Boyd's meticulously furnished and maintained home!

No, this is not a great movie. But there is no denying that I had at least two laugh out loud moments.

The funniest moment being when the two families are trying to decide the seating chart of who sits where and next to whom. For each person they envisioned what it would be like with the various people intermingling. This one part is comedy gold and worth the price of admission.

But that's it. Everyone gives a decent turn and Whitaker did not embarrass himself. Everyone needs to make a living. Fox searchlight is the company that brought "The Last King of Scotland" so you naturally assume that they have hit gold again. No but "Our Family Wedding" nevertheless has moments enough moments that we'll wait for his next great role to come. --GEOFFREY BURTON

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