Ein Trauzeuge zum Verlieben (The Best Man)
U.K. 2006

Opening 19 Jan 2006

Directed by: Stefan Schwartz
Writing credits: Ed Roe, Stefan Schwartz
Principal actors: Seth Green, Jane How, George Mendel, Amy Smart, Stuart Townsend

The best man falls in love with the bride-to-be and the fun begins when his best friend tries to stop the wedding before she says “I do”!! Murray (Seth Green, Austin Powers), a porn addict and master manipulator, helps his buddy Olly (Irishman Stuart Townsend) get the girl using a few of the oldest tricks in the book. Already no fan of the groom, Murray smacks a lipstick kiss on the groom’s collar, makes a few secret phones calls and plants a pair of lacy panties under his pillow to create enough suspicion until the bride, played by Amy Smart (The Butterfly Effect), wants to call the whole thing off.

Olly is a struggling writer who must write a speech for the new couple, but he is stricken with writer’s block. His new feelings of affection for the bride don’t help the situation, but when the groom asks him to write a love letter to repair the damage that Murray has done, his, until now withheld, affections flow freely onto the page. This duplicitous act reunites the couple. Olly, having confronted the groom at the bachelor party the night before, escapes from being handcuffed to a pipe and dashes over land and sea to get to the church on time.

The obvious comparison with Dustin Hoffman’s great scene in The Graduate banging on the huge church doors and screaming for Elaine only disappoints. It is usually safer never even to try to repeat one of film history’s greatest moments. Olly standing at the back of the church in a ridiculous wet suit is no Dustin Hoffman.

A light hearted romantic comedy directed by Stefan Schwartz, The Best Man is mildly entertaining but will hardly be remembered as great filmmaking, despite the honorable efforts of Mr. Green and ensemble. (Patricia Ritz)