Kiss the Bride (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

“A romantic comedy that has a lot of character showcasing the boundaries of love and searching for an identity.  A film with a surprising ending.”

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FILM:  Kiss the Bridge

COMPANY: here! Films, Regent, Liberation Entertainment

DVD INFORMATION: Color, Dolby Digital, 16×9 Widescreen

RATED: R

DURATION: 100 minutes

Written by Ty Liberman

Directed by C. Jay Cox

Produced by C. Jay Cox, Richard Santilena and Bob Schuck

Music by Ben Holbrook

Edited by John Keitel

STARRING:

Tori Spelling, Philipp Karner, James O’Shea, Joanna cassidy, Amber Benson, Tess Harper, Robert Foxworth

When Matt receives an invitation to high school best friend Ryan’s wedding, he’s surprised - especially that Ryan is marrying a woman!  Matt plans to rescue his former love from whatever “she-devil” has trapped him into this huge mistake.

On the other hand, Ryan’s perky fiance Alex takes quite the liking to Matt, is she very cunning, disarmingly ditzy, completely adorable - or all three?  As Matt tries to rekindle the old flame, Ryan is intent on putting out any sparks.  Ryan dismisses their old romance as just as high school thing, but Matt realizes Ryan may still be the love of his life.  All the while, Matt must deal with “his new best friend” Alex, the two families, and a hometown he thought he’d left entirely in the past.

“Kiss the Bride” is a sexy, fun, romantic comedy, proving the boundaries of love, sexually and identity and never constant.

here! TV is America’s first gay, lesbian and transgender television network and from this network, here! films has a good number of film projects featuring up-and-coming talent.

One of the ambitious projects to come from the company is a film directed by C. Jay Cox and a romantic comedy written by Ty Lieberman and a romantic comedy starring Tori Spelling, Phillipp Karner and James O’Shea.

The film is about two high school friends Matt (Phillipp Karner) and Ryan (James O’Shea) who are young and in love.  Phillip moved to California for college to attend Stanford University and now works for Queery Magazine.

One day, Phillip receives an invitation from Ryan that he is marrying Alex.  For Phillip, he is shocked to find out that Alex is a woman (played by Tori Spelling) and immediately prepares for his trip back to his hometown and find out how and why Ryan is marrying a woman.

Phillip has his problems with his own personal relationships and has not had a long relationship since he tends to compare them with his first love (Ryan).

So, when Phillip returns home, he realizes that Ryan is pretty much in love with Alex but has a problem with the two getting married and possibly maybe convince Ryan that maybe the two of them can rekindle their old high school romance.

Of course, the many “wedding cliche” films about the knight in shining armor preventing the woman he loves from getting married to another guy, is what people may think that “Kiss the Bride” is pretty much all about.  But in this case, the Knight in Shining Armor saving the groom.  But the film does have its surprise ending and avoiding the cliche.

AUDIO & VIDEO:

The film was shot in digital and featured in widescreen 16×9.  The audio selections are either digital 5.1 and 2.0.  Cox does talk about the challenges of shooting the film on the production commentary included in the special features but all in all, the digital video is crisp and vibrant.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The bonus features included on this DVD includes commentary by C. Jay Cox with actors Philipp Karner and James O’Shea.  Really good insight on the film production and the various talent on the film.  So, a pretty good commentary.

There are a good number of deleted scenes but there was one scene featuring Alex’s mother (played by Joanna Cassidy) talking with Matt in regards to marriage and why do people find marriage so important.  In the film, Alex’s mother can be seen a bit touchy but the part cut out about her discussing marriage and how things weren’t the same for her after she had a hysterectomy (removing of a woman’s womb) was an interesting part of the film but was cut out because the generator gave out and the lighting started to become uneven.  This is probably one deleted scene that I wish was included on the film.  But at the same time, for those who didn’t like the seriousness of the film, I can understand them agreeing that it should have been cut.

Then there is a 30-minute or so featurette of the film featuring a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film.

Also included is a trailer and photo gallery.

Overall, the film was actually quite fun.  It was lighthearted and the film has been called a gay version of “My Best Friend’s Wedding”. Of course, the film starts off with humor, it does get a bit serious as it progresses.

I did find the storyline quite interesting as Alex finally discovers that her fiance Ryan has had a relationship with Ryan.  But moreso, how her character is just in love with her fiance and gives him one more chance to test his love for her by having a passionate moment with Matt.  And how it resolves itself at the end of the film.  Definitely not what I was expecting but at the same time, glad that old film cliche’s are ignored and that Cox and Lieberman try something different for the ending.

As for the acting, I felt that both Philipp Karner and James O’Shea showed character in their roles.  Tori Spelling who was several months pregnant in the film was actually fun and bubbly and you also get a cameo buy her husband Dean McDermott.

And for the film’s R-rating, there is quite a bit of sexual content and nudity for those who want to see Karner and O’Shea in the buff.

All in all, the film was fun, “Kiss the Bride” is a romantic comedy that definitely touches on a lot of topics of boundaries of love and identity but most of all, in the end…it’s a love story with a happy ending.

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