Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - 26th February 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night rolls up to the end of February, with a look at a fairly obscure film and one that may intrigue or disappoint, we shall see which it will be, when we watch;

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

First off, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, is a period drama, albeit with a soupçon of comedy thrown in. Set 1932 it portrays the wedding day of Dolly Thatcham (Felicity Jones), who decides to hide in her bedroom and contemplate her past and her future.
The film relies on flashbacks to revisit her previous romantic entanglement, with Joseph Patten (Luke Treadaway), who just so happens to turn up for the wedding, just to throw the day into further turmoil.

The film is reminiscent of Brideshead Revisited in it's style and quality, or any decent period drama for that matter. The location, the sets and the costume are just right, some may say visually stunning. However, although the setting is idyllic, the supporting cast sublime, with a few well known faces thrown in, the story is weak. There is very little plot, it is moreover the study of human emotions, when confronted with the finalisation of various romantic liaisons. An old flame being extinguished and a new future being forged through marriage. Seeing, as we do, Dolly's frustrations, as she sifts through her memories.

That is about the long and the short of it. Some points to note, these are the good points. Elizabeth McGovern, of Downton Abbey fame, plays Dolly's mother, a rather scatty character I found, but one which McGovern plays so very well.
Barbara Flynn is excellent as Aunt Bella. MacKenzie Crook. (you know, him from The Office) is really quite good as David Dakin and it's him along with his son Jimmy that provide some much needed comedic moments.
And we mustn't forget Zoë Tapper as Evelyn Graham, a friend of Dolly's. You may have seen Zoë Tapper playing Ellen Love in the current ITV drama Mr Selfridge.

And that really is about it. The film plods through 93 minutes of drama-less drama, with the occasional laugh. As I say, the setting is exquisite, if you are a fan of period drama's then you will probably tolerate the weak ramblings of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding. If not, you may want to give it a miss.

As to our rating for the film, it struggles to hit 5 out of 10.