Rent A Wedding (1978)

Confetti, Chaos, and Carol Burnett - A Wedding review by griggs

I expected a gentle Altman drift, the sort of film where the odd joke floats by like stray confetti. Instead, A Wedding turns into a social circus — a well-catered meltdown where everyone smiles, frets, or pretends they know what’s going on. Before long, it’s clear the ceremony is just a backdrop for the real entertainment: people quietly losing their grip in formalwear.

Altman lets the chaos unfold with a mischievous calm. Conversations collide, gossip darts across rooms, and the camera glides around like it’s eavesdropping for sport. One of the organisers even behaves as if she’s directing the whole affair, repositioning guests and dispatching the security staff with gentle authority. They move with the politely puzzled air of people guarding order in a place where order is already a rumour. Every now and then someone nudges past decorum — a flirtation here, a whispered indiscretion there — and the film simply absorbs it.

The cast is enormous, yet everyone gets a moment: relatives who shouldn’t drink, opportunists who shouldn’t talk, and Carol Burnett, who steals scenes with the air of someone pacing herself through the world’s longest reception. The humour accumulates through tiny disasters and well-timed glances rather than big set-pieces.

It wobbles, of course — how could it not with this guest list? — but it stays lively, warm, and sneakily hilarious. A wedding worth attending, especially if you’re there for the chaos.