"The Decoy Bride," starring David Tennant, is worth the watch despite its imperfections.
I, despite being a self-proclaimed romantic, only have understood the popularity of romantic comedies on certain occasions. Rom-coms or chick flicks, as I have heard them called more than once, just never have been all that appealing to me.
The genre includes movies such as What Women Want, My Best Friend's Wedding, every Meg Ryan film made in the mid- to late-1990s — I’ve just never been a fan. To some, that’s considered a cardinal sin to my femininity. I’m not entirely sure why I’ve really never been taken by movies that center around two characters falling in love. It almost seems counterintuitive.
However, this week I stumbled across an anomaly to my mild dislike of romantic comedies: a 2011 movie called The Decoy Bride.
The Decoy Bride takes place on a fictional Scottish island called Hegg where a best-selling author, James, and his fiancee, Lara, have secretly run off to in hopes of getting married away from the paparazzi. They request the help of Katie, the only unmarried woman on the island, to stage a fake wedding where she would pretend to be James’ bride to further deter celebrity photographers from crashing the wedding. However, by complete accident, James and Katie end up signing a real marriage certificate and have to find a way to get divorced.
I found the movie to be absolutely quirky and in a way, charming. The Decoy Bride is not a typical rom-com. The situations that the character are thrown into are refreshing and new. The jokes and situations appear to be hit or miss, however, the charming moments usually trump the awkward ones.
For example, there is a running (and somewhat confusing) joke about a cow haunting one of the public restrooms on Hegg. On the other hand, there is a heartwarming scene where a deaf couple mistake James for a famous bagpipe player they used to enjoy dancing to and, despite James not knowing how to play, they dance to his music.
That being said, the movie has been very poorly received by critics and with relatively good reason. In all honesty, the plot could be described as convoluted, confusing and outlandish. In all fairness, I think I might be sympathetic toward the movie because of the actors.
David Tennant, who plays James, had a prominent role in the popular British TV series Doctor Who. Kelly Macdonald, who stars beside Tennant as Katie, is well-known for voicing Princess Merida in the 2012 Disney-Pixar film Brave. I very much enjoy both the series and the movie and suspect that I might be slightly biased because of my preexisting opinions.
That being said, I think The Decoy Bride might just be a movie for someone like me, someone who typically doesn't enjoy romantic comedies but likes Doctor Who and Brave. I think the movie is totally worth watching, even if it only gets turned on once.
Kaitlyn McGarvey is a freshman studying journalism. Have you seen The Decoy Bride? Email her at km451814@ohio.edu or tweet @McGarveyKaitlyn.
