So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 49 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
12 OK for kids 12+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 80
    Time Out New York |

    Rice's style is pitched somewhere between Merchant Ivory and Wes Anderson, favoring shots of sad, pretty people looking bereft in elaborately elegant rooms. But it's Jones and Treadaway, both seething volcanoes trapped behind artfully pallid faces, who turn what could've been a candy-coated comedy of manners into a complex, melancholic farce. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | John DeFore

    A sustained balancing act between dry upper-crust cynicism and pent-up passions, Donald Rice's Cheerful Weather for the Wedding maintains its uneasy stasis long enough to frustrate some romance-hungry viewers while tantalizing those for whom withheld pleasure is the whole point. Read full review

  • 60
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    With costumes taking precedence over character, the movie ultimately seems more concerned with atmosphere than action. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times |

    There isn't much of anything here that hasn't been done elsewhere, but as the film rolls merrily along it reminds why wedding comedies are such ripe targets. Read full review

  • 55
    NPR | Ian Buckwalter

    The comic relief, an attempt to buoy the sinking feeling of Dolly and Joseph's difficulties, steals away the emotional weight of their story. The dominance of the madcap side of the film's split personality lays an airy veneer over Dolly and Joseph's woes, making them seem inconsequential - as unsubstantial as an observation about wedding-day weather. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    There is one bright spot. Ellie Kendrick plays Dolly's silly, breathlessly romantic little sister, Kitty. Read full review

  • 50
    Village Voice | Ernest Hardy

    The costumes are gorgeous, and the settings are plush, but the acting is merely serviceable, and the film lacks either the wit or the energy of its predecessors. Long before it ends, you find yourself indifferent to the fate of the mismatched lovebirds or anyone else in the tale. Read full review

  • 42
    The Playlist | Cory Everett

    The film may help "Downton Abbey" fanatics looking to kill a little time in that era but holds little cinematic appeal for the rest of us. Read full review

  • 40
    Total Film |

    Buckling under the influence of Downton Abbey, Rice apes its style but none of the substance to create an amiable study of posh hypocrisy without any real satire or social feeling. Read full review

  • 25
    Slant Magazine |

    The Donald Rice film suffers most from an excessively blunt approach. Read full review

View more reviews for Cheerful Weather for the Wedding on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 12+ Period drama has simmering conflict, lacks resolution.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is anything but cheerful. A large group of family members and assorted friends gathers for a young woman's marriage in post-WWI England, an event that she seems to be anticipating with dread. Expect plenty of interpersonal conflict as characters act on their various motives (which aren't always pure). There's also lots of drinking (accurate for the era), and some characters get pretty tipsy. There are also some passionate kissing and veiled references to characters' sexual histories, though little is said directly.
  • Families can talk about how Cheerful Weather for the Wedding portrays relationships. Do Joseph and Dolly belong together? Why is Dolly marrying someone else? What role do social/familial expectations play?
  • Why do the characters in this period English drama so rarely say what they really think? Do you think that's an accurate depiction of the time period/social class?
  • Who do you think this movie is intended to appeal to? Does it succeed?
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: True love may not always win out; Joseph and Dolly seem to share a romantic connection, but it's not clear that this bond will be enough to bring them together -- not when she's just hours away from marrying someone else.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: Dolly comes from a proper English family and is therefore obligated to conform to many social expectations. Joseph seems willing to ignore convention, but his direct speech is clearly an affront to the more refined characters. Few people actually say what they really mean, so it's often difficult to discern what they might be thinking/feeling.
What to watch for
  • violence false1 Violence: Some intense emotional arguments.
  • sex false1 Sexy stuff: A couple kisses passionately, and there are a few veiled allusions to a woman's sexual history.
  • language false0 Language: Not an issue
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: The wealthy characters drink steadily all through the film, including wine, champagne, and scotch. The bride pulls repeatedly from a jug of rum to steel her nerves.
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