A Wedding

Muffin and Dino's wedding is to be a large affair. But as the day goes on everything comes apart separately: the elderly priest cannot quite remember the ceremony, nobody comes from the bride's side because the groom's Italian family's business is questionable, the security guards care more about the gifts than the guests, and as the reception begins the groom's grandmother dies in an upstairs room. The family decides to hide it from the guests. Robert Altman keeps more than fifty characters in the same day and the same house. Dialogue overlaps, the camera moves from one group to another, and no character becomes the centre. The method is Altman's own and here it maps exactly onto the chaos of a wedding. Carol Burnett, Geraldine Chaplin, Mia Farrow and Desi Arnaz Jr. are in the cast. Lillian Gish plays the grandmother. Who it's for: Viewers who like Robert Altman, satire with large ensembles, and family-gathering narratives. Who it's not for: There are many characters and it is hard to keep track of who is who. Some subplots also go nowhere.