Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

At the outset, director Donald Rice’s feature film debut, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, seems rife with possibilities. The ingredients for a British period dramedy can be ticked off a list: An ensemble of eccentric family members and friends? Check. A conflicted bride? Check. An old suitor? Check. A hapless groom? Double check.
With all these elements at his disposal, Rice could have taken any number of turns with the film, adapted from a 1932 novella by Julia Strachey. Diehard Anglophiles hoping for something akin to a complex ensemble piece like Gosford Park, or the romance and levity of Four Weddings and a Funeral, or the unrequited love found in almost any Jane Austen film adaptation, will be disappointed. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding tacks an entirely different course, resulting in a languid film that fizzles from the start.
Set in the English countryside in 1932, the impending nuptials of Dolly Thatcham (Felicity Jones) and Owen Bigham (James Norton) have sent the household of the bride-to-be’s mother (Elizabeth McGovern) into a tizzy. The already emotional day is compounded further with the arrival of Dolly’s ex-lover, Joseph (Luke Treadaway).
The film unfolds slowly with a seemingly nervous bride alternating between retching and drinking straight from a bottle of rum the morning of her wedding. As the guests arrive downstairs, only Joseph is greeted with coolness from Mrs. Thatcham. Like any mother of the bride, she won’t tolerate any nonsense that may ruin her daughter’s day.