Summary
Two dysfunctional families come together in this culture-clash Mexican comedy which is short on laughs and new ideas.
New on Netflix today, not that you’d know it from the marketing, Grandma’s Wedding is a Mexican comedy about two highly dysfunctional families coming together on the eve of Abuela’s (Susana Alexander) wedding to the much younger Julio (Dino García). Shenanigans ensue.
I don’t need to describe this film — looking at the thumbnail and plot synopsis is enough. It’s the classic comedic setup of opposites attracting; battle lines being drawn between families who have their own dysfunctions but ingrained loyalties. The setup of an older woman marrying a much younger man is the film’s most novel aspect, and even that feels played-out. The rest of the runtime, which is mercifully just over 90 minutes, is devoted to typical dramas, cultural clashes, rivalries, one-upmanship, and so on, and so forth. You can predict each beat a few scenes before it occurs.
Grandma’s Wedding feels like the sort of international acquisition that’s lumped in with a better one; as in if you commission this limited series we’ll throw in a tedious dysfunctional family comedy as a bonus. That might not be the case but is symbolic of the effort on display, and I’d like to believe it’s true simply so I don’t have to go on again about Netflix’s apparent aversion to quality control.
