Polish Wedding | | Cast : | Claire Danes, Lena Olin, Gabriel Byrne | | Director : | Theresa Connelly | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 17, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | April 15, 2003 | | Language : | English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 04, 2005 | | Summary | QUIRKY, AMUSING, HUMANIZING | Content
 | I do not own the DVD. I own the soundtrack cd (great score!). But, I must say that there was a lot to enjoy in this movie. Quirky is just fine with me. And then, to be able to look at the fabulous Lena Olin!! I, too, am from an "ethnic" family, and, thus, look at portrayals of ethnic people with a particularly sensitive eye. In that light, I must say that I did not find anything so terribly or intentionally offensive in the portrayal of characters or nationalities here. As an adult, hopefully one realizes that there is a great deal of variety within each ethnic group. There is a lot of universal stuff here, too, as it relates to family and humanity. In fact, if the subject here had been Italians, this film might have been directed by Giuseppe Tornatore ["Cinema Paradiso," "Malena"]. I agree with other reviewers who recommended that some viewers need to take a chill pill and see the humanity and universality here. VERY MUCH WORTH A LOOK. Ciao! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 14, 2005 | | Summary | Put this in your pipe and smoke it! | Content
| I first saw this movie while flipping around channels on HBO and while at first, it did not catch my attention for reasons I shall yet to understand. Once I really did start to get into the film however, I was totally drawn into it. I understand that many reviewers here were absolutely mortified upon finishing the movie (if any of them actually gave it that long of a chance) but, honestly knowing nothing of Polish culture, did not take anything "racial" from the movie; rather, I just saw a funny, and genuinely honest story that wanted to be told.
The story focuses on the bizarre life of a large family simply trying to stay afloat in both financial and social situations of their life. Claire Danes (Hala) plays a beautiful but rebellious young girl who puts out a "pure" act in front of those who don't know her well (like the Church). Her father, Bolek, an honest and prideful baker, who is well aware of his family's problems (and secretly, while never blantly said of, his wife's affair), struggles to put up a brave front while dealing with family issues. In the movie Hala is impregnanted by the same police man who pulled her over for breaking curfew (or another unsaid reason). Hala's mother is infuriated and when Hala's lover refuses her offer of marriage several times, takes things into her own hands and drags along Hala's many older brothers to beat him up.
In the mist of the fury, Hala is chosen to represent the innocence and purity of the Virgin Mary by her church. Although Hala puts up a happy and brave front for her family, her peers ridicule her for it and eventually screw the parade as they chant obscenities to her. As Hala approaches the statue of the Virgin Mary, she questions why she was chosen and in an act of pure mockery (or more so, something only a rebellious girl could do), takes the crown she was to place on Mary's head and tops it on her own, crying out, "Put this in your pipe and smoke it!" She is punished but the movie does not get off easily without a good end; Hala (I am assuming, as the way this movie ends) marries the dull and emotionally-challeneged police man and gives birth to their baby boy and all is good once again.
This movie is not without it's imperfections; it is rather slow and the plot seems to be going absolutely nowhere at times yet, the honest portrayal of the family is so stunningly dramatic that I often found myself just staring at the TV screen in disbelief (both good and bad). I can see why many of the reviewers here are infuriated and while it can be a little too much, Polish Wedding is realistic: the eight year old soon is addicted to cigarattes, the beautiful wife is an adultress and the rebellious daughter seems to get away with everything.
I found this movie to be rather enjoyable. It's not like many other realistic cultural movies where it shows an actual portrayal of a certain lifestyle but like I said before, while I'm not an expert at the Polish culture, I can tell it's only trying to poke fun, not be racist. I didn't walk away thinking this was how all Polish acted. Then again, the message I'm getting from the Polish reviewers here is this: if "Polish Wedding" is attempting to be racist by going over the top, couldn't the same by said for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", which is merely "poking fun" of it's own cultural traditions? |
| Rating | | | Date | December 27, 2004 | | Summary | Disappointed | Content
| A horrible, pointless film in which the actors are way too good for the script. I was not surprised to see that the writer/director has done nothing else since. Let's hope her urge to create remains dormant.
There is not much Polish in the characters other than the names. I fail to see any real traditions from Eastern Europe. The film was shot in a suburb quite a ways from Detroit that is known for having a large Polish community. I think they mentioned Pierogi once, although it was said wrong. That's about the only polish influence in the movie. Everything else is just horniness run amuck. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 02, 2004 | | Summary | Not worth a penny | Content
| I am Polish and this is one of the most offensive movies I've ever seen. I know the difference between poking fun at your heritage and degrading it. This was definitely the latter. The movie was boring, base and had no point. I threw it out after watching it. My husband (who is not polish) felt the same way. He was shocked. We both loved "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". My husband is part Greek. "My Polish Wedding" was not funny, not cute, not intelligent, and certainly not accurate. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 20, 2004 | | Summary | Good acting...no story | Content
| Some good imagery. I loved the opening with all the beautiful mediaeval/Renaissance art of cherubic babies and voluptuous nudes.
Beautiful Claire Danes is superb as a mixed up teen, Hala, which gets her pregnant, thereby presenting a problem for her devoutly Catholic family.
Sexy Lena Olin plays her strong willed and fiery mother, and Gabriel Byrne her thoughtful baker father.
Great acting and probably a good portrayal of the Polish area of Detroit, but where is this movie going?
It drags, there is no real story and perhaps it is simply supposed to be a Polish-American version of the Irish classic "The Snapper" (1994).
And I didn't like the guy, Schuster the local cop, who got Hala knocked up either. He can't get any expression other than that blank stare, right to the end. I don't know why Hala wanted to marry him!
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