There are a lot of movies where a goofy aspiring, young writer goes through a coming-of-age. Max Winkler’s writer-director debut, Ceremony, is equal parts original material and carbon copy of such movies, a kind of Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) flick meets a geekier, more serious version of The Wedding Crashers.
Sam Davis (Michael Angarano), a 23-year-old, ambitious, yet unsuccessful children’s book writer, is best friends with Marshall Schmitt (Reese Thompson), who hasn’t been able to leave his parents’ house since he got mugged at gunpoint. Sam manages to drag him to a Long Island estate wedding, to which they are not invited, and where 30-something Zoe (Uma Thurman), who Same loves, is getting married to an annoyingly confident nature documentary filmmaker (Lee Pace).
The two friends manage to crash the wedding and over the three days of celebration, friendships and relationships are tested. It’s clear that Sam isn’t as mature as he thinks, and that he’s using Marshall. But is the older Zoe really all that better, and is Sam the one who is going to get used in the end?
Unfortunately, it’s never entirely convincing why Sam is so in love with Zoe in the first place, due to her one-dimensional character: her parents died, she has a short attention span, that’s about it. Given that the plot relies on Sam’s crazy stalking, her character definitely needed more development to justify his passion—and their romance.
Winkler’s first attempt at a feature film clearly demonstrates that he grew up loving Wes Anderson films, but we wish he had personalized his influences more. Although his dialogue shows wit and promise, there were no laugh-out-loud moments. If slight chuckles of irony and sighs of melancholic humor are good enough for you, check it out. Otherwise, wait and see what Winkler comes up with next.