Terrific concept of a man hired to rescue a bride from an arranged marriage in India. Unfortunately not enough twists and turns and a third act with a dopey, sentimental ending. When the girl turns out not to be as much of a victim as one surmised and the story veers towards a will she/won't she double-cross her kidnapper/savior one hopes that the plotting will veer into darker territory. Alas the story becomes merely sentimental and the ending sputters out. A shame as this could have been a terrific watch. The vast majority of the movie is filmed on the streets of India and is a delight to observe. Dev Patel gives a wonderful performance that ALMOST makes up for the deficiencies of the script. One minor observation, late in the film it is very obviously pointed out that Dev's character does not know how to swim, which makes one wonder if the runaway bride will attempt to drown him -- which fails to happen, but thinking back to an earlier scene Dev is observed swimming in a hotel swimming pool. Curious mistake. The film fails to work due to a lackluster script and dialogue that seems improvised. A cut above a lot of low budget movies but needed a better script.
Review of The Wedding Guest
