Review

What is truth, and what is fiction? How does one discern reality from pretense? These are serious questions, but if you're looking for answers à la Japanese abstraction, German expressionism or Swedish nihilism, keep looking, because The Wedding Video has the answer, "REAL WORLD" style. In the first film to come out of the MTV phenomenon, Norman Korpi (the gay guy from "Real World-New York") and creative partner Clint Cowen have made a deliciously wicked satire that skewers all the clichés and conventions of the reality show.

Norm plays "Norm" who hires "Clint" to film his gay wedding. He invites his best friends - all popular "Real World" alums - and has Clint tape them as they arrive for the bachelor party and ceremony. The cast members have great fun parodying the on-air personas that MTV created for them through its editing: San Francisco's Rachel is now the ultimate self-centered bitch, London's Lars has his nose stuck up so high he might die from asphyxiation, and New York's Heather B. becomes a walking-talking hip-hop video. And in the "true" manner of such shows, every backstab, every catfight, and every shocking revelation is caught on videotape for our tawdry entertainment. As the reality genre pushes the envelope - and strains credibility - it becomes ripe for parody; who better to do it than the people who created it in the first place?

Andrew Preis

The countdown is on; Norman's wedding is just two short months away. He has been looking forward to this day for his entire life: his final badge of personal growth and fulfillment. It's important for Norman to be able to share this special time in his life with his closest friends and family. The problem though, is that he lives delicately balanced on the top floor of a house of cards, unaware and oblivious to his surroundings.

Upon a recommendation from one of Norman's dearest friends, he decides to hire a videographer with a $10,000 gift his mother gave him for the upcoming wedding. Norman quickly befriends Clint, the video guy, and instructs him to make a documentary-style video of all the events and people connected with his special day. In the weeks before the wedding, Norm sends Clint jetting all over the country to interview his loved ones, some of whom mysteriously can't seem to find the time to attend the swanky nuptials held in Beverly Hills. Clint's quests for perfect wedding video footage turn out to be quite less than fruitful.

When Norman's diverse and sometimes raunchy circle of friends begin to show their true colors, it becomes apparent to Clint that Norman clearly misperceives the unconditional love he thinks he has from his friends and family. Some of his 'closest' friends don't even know he's gay or that Sky, his fiancé, is a MAN! Even Norman's own mother refuses to attend the wedding without offering as much as a lame excuse.

The plot thickens as Clint rolls tape on the group back-stabbing Norman, and one another-- especially at the bachelor party-- where amidst the debauchery, Norm's groom-to-be is supposedly caught on tape having sex with a mysterious woman. Not surprising though, given that he's an adult film star—another fact of which our hero Norm is completely oblivious! To top-it-off, Clint, the videographer, is a fraud--a common slacker posing as a professional in hopes of pulling a quick buck.

During the editing process Clint finds that he can't possibly make a palatable product from all of the tainted footage which, taken in context, would shatter Norman's life as he currently knows it. So Clint remains faced with a grueling decision: Does he deliver the final product at length-- unaltered and tortuously truthful-- or does he appease his new (and only) client by delivering a short, yet lavishly beautiful lie. Which will he choose? Check out The Wedding Video for the answer.