‘Family Wedding’ invites all racial clichés

America Ferrera and Lance Gross in "Our Family Wedding" Lucia (America Ferrera) can’t wait to marry Marcus (Lance Gross) in the romantic comedy “Our Family Wedding.”


Lucia Ramirez has a confession for her conservative, Mexican-American father, Miguel.

She dropped out of law school and intends to marry a black medical student, then go with him to Laos where he’ll work for Doctors Without Borders.

“Laos?” Miguel replies. “What Laos? Laos Angeles? Laos Vega?”

Miguel isn’t a stupid character. He’s a savvy businessman who runs a garage and towing company, and refurbishes old cars with the craftsmanship of a skilled artist.

But in Rick Famuyiwa’s cliché-crammed, IQ-challenged rom-com “Our Family Wedding,” Miguel inexplicably reverts to a dumb and dopey caricature when faced with the prospect of his daughter’s marriage to a black man.

He’s not the only one who suddenly goes silly.

Miguel (Carlos Mencia) and the groom’s dad, radio DJ Brad Boyd (Forest Whitaker), both devolve into squabbling, egocentric children who sling more ethnic insults than Don Imus.

Brad starts a sentence with, “When you go black …” and Miguel quickly chimes in, “Your credit goes bad!”

Hardee-har-har.

Miguel and Brad relish childish behavior so much, they make a running game out of who can take longer to sit down in a chair.

Oh, the suspense!

Brad and Miguel first meet on the street when a distressed Brad tries to stop Miguel from towing his luxury car out of a no-parking zone.

After that, it’s all love at first fight. (Read more…)

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