Head or Tails: Tori Spelling, James O'Shea, and Philipp Karner try to decide who will marry whom in C. Jay Cox's Kiss the Bride.
Directed by C. Jay Cox and written by Tyler Lieberman, the romantic comedy Kiss the Bride will be Outfest's closing night event (Monday, 8 p.m. at the Orpheum in downtown Los Angeles).
In Kiss the Bride, the first feature film to come out of Outfest's screenwriting lab, Matt (Philipp Karner) tries to rescue his very intimate high-school bud Ryan (James O'Shea) from a life-ruining mistake: marriage to a woman (Tori Spelling). The problem is that Matt and the bride-to-be become fast buddies, too.
The plot sounds a bit like The Philadelphia Story meets My Best Friend's Wedding — if so, that's not a bad thing.
As a plus, director Cox's Latter Days was a favorite in the gay film festival circuit a few years ago. One of that film's leads, Steve Sandvoss (the suffering Mormon missionary), has a supporting role in Kiss the Bride, playing — as per the 13th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival synopsis — a "goofy, sort-of straight guy."
I don't know what the heck a "sort-of" straight (or gay) guy is, but I assume I'll find out after I watch Cox's latest. (Unfortunately, that won't happen tomorrow as I won't be able to make it to the downtown screening.)
The following evening, Kiss the Bride will have its East Coast premiere at the Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian fest.
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Not the funniest comedy ever made, but "Kiss the Bride" has its moments. Tori Spelling is very funny. She gets a bad rap. Her talent should be better appricated.