Michal (Noa Koler) is determined to get married even if she doesn’t have a fiancee in The Wedding Plan
THE WEDDING PLAN (Rama Burshtein, 2016)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Opens Friday, May 12
www.theweddingplanmovie.com
www.quadcinema.com
A month before her wedding, Michal (Noa Koler) finds out that her fiance, Gidi (Erez Drigues), doesn’t actually love her. Determined to not become an old maid, the thirty-two-year-old animal handler decides that she is going to go through with the ceremony anyway, that love — and the right man — are still out there waiting for her. “I believe God will help me find a groom by the end of Hanukkah,” she tells wedding planner Shimi (Amos Tamam), who is not so sure she is making the right decision. She then goes on a series of ever-more-silly dates with Orthodox men as her wedding day approaches, with no legitimate suitor in sight as her friends and family wonder about her sanity. And then she meets singer Yoss (Oz Zehavi), but is he Mr. Right? By then, you might not care. Written and directed by New York City native Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void, Venice 70: Future Reloaded), The Wedding Plan, which is called Through the Wall in Hebrew, is a Lifetime-like romantic comedy, trying too hard to be charming and funny, resulting in flat scenes that are predictable and trite. Michal’s wedding day is scheduled for the eighth day of Hanukkah, which holds special meaning at the end of the Festival of Lights, a time for rejuvenation; The Wedding Plan could use some rejuvenating of its own.