The Romantics

On one raucous night before an ill-fated seaside wedding on posh Long Island, a group of Ivy League friends make boozing fools of themselves, with everyone acutely aware that stoic maid of honor Laura (Katie Holmes) is caught in a predicament: she's had a passionate affair with groom Tom (Josh Duhamel), a former lifeguard/swimming champion en route to earning his Ph.D. The pair's lengthy liaison ended abruptly, just before Tom proposed to Laura's prim, wealthy, hyper-competitive ex–best friend and roommate, Lila (Anna Paquin). But Laura and Tom aren't the only ones approaching the awkward nuptials with trepidation. “He has to love you more than you love him,” cautions the mother of the bride (Candice Bergen), “that's the only way marriage works.” Also on the prowl during the rehearsal party are three groomsmen (Elijah Wood, Adam Brody, Jeremy Strong) and two bridesmaids (Rebecca Lawrence, Malin Akerman) whose sketchy, one-dimensional characters are barely delineated as the hackneyed betrayals unfold. Filmmaker Galt Niederhoffer, working from her own titular novel, quickly reveals her inexperience in a film that suffers from both clumsy, handheld camerawork and turgid, pretentious literary prattle that signifies very little. Not a necessary purchase. (S. Granger)