After the horror genre made a pretty good comeback in the past couple of years, now we see another longtime fan favorite stepping back into the spotlight, the rom-com. The romantic comedies were rather absent from the movie screens lately, and the little what we did get was of rather poor quality. Enters this summer season with 3 titles, all of which are, the very least, solid movies. Crazy Rich Asians, To All The Boys I’ve Loved and Destination Wedding. To be fair, I have only seen the last 2, since CRA was not screened in my country and I will have to wait until it comes out on digital. But let us talk now about the movie at hand, Destination Wedding. Two strangers meet in an airport, waiting for a flight, take an immediate dislike to each other only to find out that they are traveling to the same wedding. As if attending a wedding alone would not be a miserable enough experience on its own, our 2 protagonists are apparently stuck together through the entire duration of the event, for our viewing pleasure.

Now, the story in itself is not new. Just by watching the trailer you can tell what will happen and how it will end. It is pretty much paint by numbers. What matters here is not the originality, but the execution, which is not flawless, but it is pretty darn good. Besides the 2 leads, no other character gets any screen time. They are showed from a distance, and referred to, but none of them have any lines in the movie. This is good, because it keeps the movie clutter free. There are no ridiculous subplots, not annoying side characters. The focus is on our 2 leads and on them only. To makes this work you have to have some good talent in front of the camera, which of course Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are, and then some. Destination Wedding is the 4th movie they do together and it shows on their on-screen chemistry. The interaction between the two is natural, seamless. They are a great on-screen pair and the material allows them to have fun. Both of their characters are loners and intellectuals, and in any other circumstance, they would avoid each other like the plague. But here, they are exposed to each other’s quirks and ideas and they drive each other up the walls, yet they stick together because they agree on one thing, which is that they would rather be anywhere else but here at this wedding. So, the entire movie is a set of conversations that the 2 are having during the event. The way the 2 are exchanging jabs and puns, ironies and sarcasm at each other is delightful. Like a very good tennis game, only with words and sentences.

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