Sorry, this movie sucks

Powerful

One of my all time favorites.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This film tells the story of a young man who convinces a friend to go to the beach for a holiday. What he truly plans is to crash his ex- girlfriend's wedding."Ceremony" has a strange title, because it is so descriptive and doesn't leave anything to the imagination. As for the film itself, the only is alright, but I have trouble getting the film because of the age difference between Sam and Zoe. Though I can see that the age difference is an integral part of the story, it still is not a believable romance. In addition, how Zoe gives off different and conflicting signals to Sam is quite unfair. I think it's not a particularly enjoyable romantic comedy.

What a pleasant surprise this movie was! There are too few movies of this caliber these days. I cannot understand the rating on this site. If I didn't know who made the movie I would have guessed Wes Anderson. If you like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore or Steers' "Igby goes down" you'll love it. Ceremony was enchanting, moving, humorous and bittersweet. The setting was perfect. I dare you to find even one character in this movie that isn't charming. The similarities between Max Winkler's Ceremony and Wes Andersons work are absolutely obvious, down to the small details. Watching Ceremony I was reminded of Dignan making his absurd plans, Anthony Adams falling in love, and of course, Max Fisher pursuing Miss Cross. The fact is Max Winkler "wrote a hit play" and I thank him for doing so.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! I have a guilty secret. When I start to watch a movie that I've taped on my DVR I usually come to IMDb and read some of the reviews just to get a sense of where it's going before I give up my time. I know, terrible, but there you have it.So I read some of the reviews here and though uh-oh, I might as well work while I watch this one, which I did but not very successfully. As in I didn't get much work done because I was completely entertained by this movie. I know we've seen all kinds of wedding movies with similar plots. But if you really think about it there are only 5-6 plots in movies anyway (if you take out the specific details). So I'm fine with watching similar plots over and over, because there really is no choice on that anyway.I thought the storyline was great. I read another person say that the characters were all unlikable, but I disagree. I thought that it was a story about a very immature 23 year old who had a fling with an older woman and is handling it like a 23 year old. His insecurities made him act a certain way, but I had empathy for the pain he was really feeling and and the sincerity in his feels of love towards this woman. He was the kind of person who has the gift of gab and which led him to throw phony compliments to his friend while he manipulates and uses him. But that didn't take away from what I saw as real caring for his friend, Marshall. In fact I'm sure Marshall really appreciated the attention he got from Sam as he had his own issues which made him appear as someone who doesn't get out much.I also appreciated the fact that this wasn't the predictable boy loves girl, boy tries to break up impending marriage and boy succeeds.I read someone else complain that Zoe was marrying an *hole who you knew was an *hole from the start. I didn't see it that way at all. I thought the finance Whit was 'who he was', but really loved and cared for Zoe. He even allowed this 'fling' to be a pen pal of Zoes and when he shows up at the wedding there was no hissy fits, because he loves Zoe so much. Yes he was a bit self absorbed but so are many successful people.I thought the emotions that Zoe felt for Sam were very real and appropriate for what their situation really was and her reluctance to hurt him was well written. I didn't take it that she didn't love Whit or was marrying for the wrong reasons. Her relationship with Sam was this slice of life thing for her and she was happy moving forward in her life, but for Sam it was so much more. At the end you could see that Sam (and Marshall for that matter) grew up a little bit more. Isn't that true for your one big heartbreak? It sends you to the next phase of your life, and that's what I felt for both boys at the end. New phase. Growing up, but not yet grown up. Ah, to be young and that crazy in love again!

I enjoyed the first five minutes of Ceremony, where the main character is reading from his children's book in a library, and the camera slowly pans back to reveal all empty seats, except for one adult, who applauds enthusiastically at the reading's conclusion. It was original and funny, and I thought I was in for a good movie.I couldn't have been more wrong. The rest of the movie is plagued with one-note characters, (mostly) uninteresting dialogue, and good actor's talents wasted. All of the plot points have been done before, and better (e.g. the lovelorn sap chases down the woman he loves who is slated to marry a jerk). Uma Thurman's fiancé is so blatantly obviously a jerk as to be a caricature (in an unfunny way), and it is unbelievable that an intelligent woman would see enough in this man to marry him.The class differences at the resort is an old, tired plot device, as was the outdoor scavenger-hunt the host's family traditionally plays, which veered into the ridiculous.I'll give one example of a poorly thought out scene. Uma Thurman visit's the main character in his guest room to talk, since they were old flames. Up to this point it has been established that the room is very hot and stuffy. Yet she walks into the room carrying a sleeping bag, then crawls into it during their conversation. A moment later in the discussion she says "it's too hot to talk about that issue," all the while buried up to her neck in the sleeping bag under the pretence of keeping herself 'safe' from her former flame (no, there was no sexual tension at all, they were just having an uninteresting discussion about their past relationship). The movie is riddled with head-scratching moments like this, as if the writer was also the proofreader and didn't catch errors in logic (or overdone clichés).The best friend, who has been used by the main character finally leaves, which is the only believable occurrence in the movie. Then he inexplicably comes back! The only possible explanation for this was his attraction to the female caterer; I was hoping to see some dialogue between them which would have been a welcome distraction from the boring leads but she never speaks! None of the movie's problems are the fault of the actors, I blame the script.