A Few Best Men

A Few Best Men is the male equivalent of Bridesmaids (2011).  Featuring one hapless groom, David (Xavier Samuel, Twilight: Eclipse), and his three best friends, Tom (Kris Marshall, My Family), Graham (Kevin Bishop), and Luke (Tim Draxl), A Few Best Men follows the disastrous events leading up to, and on, David’s wedding day.

After knowing his bride-to-be, Mia (Laura Brent), for all of about five minutes after a holiday romance turns serious, it is no surprise that David’s friends show immediate reluctance to his getting married – that and, of course, there would be a serious breakdown of the “bromance” binding them all together.

Embarking on this wedding together, the quartet set off for Australia, Mia’s homeland.  Dividing at the airport, David and Mia head straight off to meet the new in-laws, whilst Tom, Graham and Luke set off on a completely different agenda: to obtain a certain substance likely to get the imminent stag party underway. 

Each element of A Few Best Men adds its own ingredient which amasses to the calamity of the actual wedding.  A drug-dealer, a prize sheep, a “gimp” mask, a moustache, and the contradictory personalities of all the characters – a recipe for catastrophe!

With additional pressure from Mia’s very wealthy family, David consistently nears breaking point with his “friends” inadvertently ruining the biggest day of David, Mia, and her family’s lives.

Directed by Stephan Elliot (Easy Virtue and Pricilla, Queen of the Desert), A Few Best Men is very similar to films of the same genre such as The Hangover and Bridesmaids.  Bringing mayhem into a pressurised setting such as a wedding automatically emphasises even the most minor hiccups – let alone introducing a cross-dressed ram containing the contents of an armed drug-dealer’s stash…

The film will tease a laugh from the audience at some point during its running time.  A refreshing combination of English boys in an Australian setting makes a change from the usual American cast/backdrop.  A subliminal, slightly deeper message laced within the film is the young men’s disinclination to grow up and lead separate lives.  However, a typical ending to the film wraps up all loose ends, and any concealed or unintentional messages are revealed and dealt with accordingly.

Although David’s day will be memorable…for all the wrong reasons, this film only deserves to be watched once, because once you know what happens there is really nothing that can be missed the first time round.  It is Graham, Mia’s sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson) and Mia’s fantastic “party-girl” mum Barbara (Olivia Newton-John) each of whom provide the greatest laughter and the film is worth watching just for this trio!

A few good jokes, a few awkward moments, and a few best men. Phew!

Jennifer Atkinson

A Few Best Men is released nationwide on 31^st August 2012.

Watch the trailer for A Few Best Men here: