Country Wedding

Valdís Óskarsdóttir

BY Erene StergiopoulosPublished Sep 9, 2008

Imagine a really long episode of Seinfeld fused with Little Miss Sunshine, where the characters speak in Icelandic and they’re all crammed in two coach buses on their way to a wedding ceremony. That’s the basis of Country Wedding.

This comedy by director Valdís Óskarsdóttir takes a look at the chaotic wedding day of a young couple (Inga and Bardi) who have planned a small family wedding in the countryside. They’ve rented two buses: one for the bride’s relations and one for the groom’s. And in such close quarters on a long road nothing but the most absurd insecurities emerge in each character and every situation. Mom’s boyfriend is secretly dating the bride’s closest childhood friend. The guy who wasn’t invited to the wedding isn’t actually a psychologist like he says. Daddy’s got a drinking problem and it’s only getting worse. And of course, grandma is slightly senile, so you’ll need to keep an eye on her so she doesn’t escape.

While the wedding party is made up of an admittedly stock set of characters, you can’t help but chuckle at the cliché dysfunctional family routine that we somehow love to watch. And despite the somewhat formulaic situations portrayed in the film, the comedy manages to stay subtle and well executed. It finds humour in everyday situations (plus all the screw-ups in between), making it a clever comedy that revels in life’s awkward moments.

Though it may not be a masterpiece, Country Wedding is certainly a barrel of understated Icelandic fun and at times, it might even surprise you.
(Sveitabruðkaup ehf)

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