Our Family Wedding

Our Family Wedding contains a scene in which Carlos Mencia (playing a racist tow truck operator) takes his prospective son-in-law (a black man played by Lance Gross) to a police station. Mencia is horrified that his daughter (America Ferrera) would marry a coloured individual ― and the son of a radio host (Forest Whitaker) whose car he towed just a few days earlier, to make matters worse ― and wants to examine his police record as a power play. Our Family Wedding also contains a scene in which Carlos Mencia is nearly raped by a Viagra-addled goat. That just about sums it up. Yes, the old Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? formula, less relevant than ever, is resurrected for a weary comedy-of-manners lacking any sense of tone, taste or realistic human interaction. Perhaps an engagement between Ferrera and Gross would inspire family friction, but would Mencia's character really leave the room saying, "I'll be right black"? Would Charlie Murphy's character really launch into a sexist rant about a wife's role in marriage with both families present? And, hey, doesn't making Ferrera a law student and Gross a Doctors Without Borders member seem just a pinch too on the nose? Whitaker and Mencia's attempts to one-up each other grow very monotonous very fast as writer/director Rick Famuyiwa flails awkwardly between lame slapstick and sentimental treacle, never earning the right to venture into the painful territory the police station scene goes to. And, yes, there's that horny goat. The only nice thing to be said for him is that he makes one forget the scenes in which Mencia has to hide his Viagra-induced erection. Expendable DVD extras include deleted scenes and a gag reel.