Captivating audiences once again in this crime, thriller drama, star Dev Patel gives another memorable performance. Audiences aren’t lost in his deliciously good looks, rather they are taken by the creative storytelling. What Patel does as an actor seems so natural in playing a bad guy named “Jay.” Though, I question the thought in the times we live in, are we supposed to be rooting for these types of characters despite their handsomeness? My guess is yes, but here Patel plays a stone cold professional criminal and something on the polar opposite of his noteworthy previous lovable roles. The once young actor of “Slumdog Millionaire'” is taking big risks.
In Michael Winterbottom’s Wedding Guest, “Jay” played by Patel takes us through crafty disguises landing him in Pakistan from London through India to Pakistan and back out again. The suspense is kept going through Jay’s ruthless killer poker face in various instances that begs the question, what would you do to fill your greed? His kidnap victim blurs the lines from helplessness as striking as she is to Jay, and extenuating circumstances leads him towards love. Snappy quippy kidnapped “Samira”played by -Radhika Apte, keeps pace with her lovely features and tough attitude. Audiences don’t know if we love or hate her because Samira is either fooling us all, and / or we ask ourselves, what would you do if you were her? And, are we empathetically feeling sorry for her? Who is Samira? She is a lot of women...she is complex, beautiful and has to choose for herself at the risk of others. For this Pakistan woman, like so many, she is set up for marriage, and does not make her own choices. Samira is the one woman all women want to be, especially if it makes others in her community angry and upsets the status quo.
For the production itself, the pace and colorful choices are exciting to witness. We are transfixed by the various types of middle-eastern cultures we rarely seldom witness. The original soundtrack and cinematography are perfectly matched for this story. As life imitates art, the timing of the events as it happens to be in real life, India and Pakistan are at a stand still in government politics over nuclear missile launches this February of 2019.
