ScreenWize

Opening confidently with aerial shots of Auckland, smooth hip-hop music and matching jump cut editing, this film announces itself as fresh, urban and international. And it mostly follows through to the feel-good ending which is, of course, the big wedding scene.

It is Sione (Pua Magasiva) who is getting married, and he is worried. His brother Michael (Robbie Magasiva), and Michael’s three best friends - Albert (Oscar Kightley), Stanley (Iaheto Ah Hi) and Sefa (Shimpal Lelisi) - are part of a ‘crew’ that has wrecked most of the previous weddings in the Samoan community. Sione cant take any risks with their drunken childish antics, and so the four are banned from the festivities unless they can each find a girlfriend – one who really cares about them – to bring as an escort. To make matters worse, they only have one week to find these calming female influences.

Written and performed by members of the ‘Naked Samoans’, a comedy group from Auckland who have toured the world and received rave reviews for their stand up comedy, Sione’s Wedding is rather formulaic and unimaginative with the story, and certainly doesn’t enter any uncharted territory. The boys continue to behave badly and set up a series of opportunities for prankish banter until their consciences or fate intervene to turn them into the nice guys they really are. Yet the characters are warmly rounded and likeable, and even though we pretty much know what’s coming next, there’s a charm about the film that is real. Much of this is due to the central performances, and it’s clear that these guys have worked together and know how to bounce off each other, even when the written humour isn’t strong. They are ably supported by Teuila Blakely who plays Sefa’s long-suffering girlfriend Leilani, and David Fane as the wise helper, Bolo.

The style - at least initially – is cleverly influenced by hip-hop and R&B music video, though this fades as the story progresses, perhaps to underscore the transformation that the naughty thirty-somethings make as they head towards marriage, responsibility and tradition. The music itself – all local New Zealand artists working under the Dawn Raid Entertainment label - is top shelf stuff.

It’s a polished and endearing romantic comedy that has cleverly tapped into the psyche of the contemporary Samoan community without becoming parochial. The themes, characters and humour are all pitched at the universal, and this makes it an easily likeable, if not particularly original, film.

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon