Confetti -- 2006 -- R

Usually, the first couple of movies I see in a particular genre fascinate me, and this one was no exception. I'm not sure how I avoided the "mockumentary" for as long as I did, but somehow I missed them long enough to make Confetti the first of this genre I've actually watched. Whether I've seen these things before is irrelevant to my actually watching one.

This one involves three couples who are competing to win a contest for the most original wedding. Groups of people come into this magazine's office and "pitch" their wedding ideas, and the magazine's editor and owner pick three themes: movie musical, tennis, and naturist (read, nude). In a reality show style, the couples acquire these two wedding planners who are a gay couple, and they all set to work on making these original weddings happen.

Like with any reality show, there are some issues along the way, but in this one, there are no real twists. You have the people you root for, those who hope lose, and those you know just don't stand a chance no matter what they do. It'll take about 20 minutes (if that) for you to sort out who these are.

Since it's setup like a documentary/reality show, it's hard to critique what went on beyond the occasionally show paced scenes. I understand most of the scenes were improved on the spot, but a lot of them went on too long with only the thinnest of purposes. Much of the humor was quite honest and fun, but it just went really slow.

I will say the final weddings were, for the most part, very impressive. The filmmakers really did a lot to try and bring some originality to the wedding ceremony making the climax of the film very interesting.

In case watching the film weren't enough, there's another hour of additional footage to rifle through that is setup like a video diary showing everything that was not included in the final cut. There are also three alternate endings (one for each couple).

So in the end, it was kind of fun to see something like this, even realizing that despite the ridiculousness of the premise, someone might actually try it.