Diagonaldi Very well executed

LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

sonelectric What a pleasant surprise this movie was! There are too few movies of this caliber these days. I cannot understand the rating on this site. If I didn't know who made the movie I would have guessed Wes Anderson. If you like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore or Steers' "Igby goes down" you'll love it. Ceremony was enchanting, moving, humorous and bittersweet. The setting was perfect. I dare you to find even one character in this movie that isn't charming. The similarities between Max Winkler's Ceremony and Wes Andersons work are absolutely obvious, down to the small details. Watching Ceremony I was reminded of Dignan making his absurd plans, Anthony Adams falling in love, and of course, Max Fisher pursuing Miss Cross. The fact is Max Winkler "wrote a hit play" and I thank him for doing so.

jotix100 A children's book author, Sam Davis, is presenting his newest work. To our surprise, only his friend Marshall has come to support Sam. The book is terrible, perhaps a bit better than the previous one whose subject was a flying koala bear. Sam has invited Marshall to come along for a week-end in Long Island. The real purpose of the outing is to crash the wedding of Zoe and Whit. Secretly, Sam has been madly in love with this woman, who also got interested in him, for just a brief period of time.Sam and Marshall are staying in a hotel near the mansion where the celebration will be held. Sam decides to crash the party down the beach. Zoe is surprised. when she realizes what is going on. She has no excuse for not introducing the crashers to Whit, who likes the newcomers. The duo is obviously out of the league of a screen actor with a lot of money, who is civil in putting them up and expects them to attend the wedding. Zoe begins to regret her involvement with a younger man on the eve of her own wedding. Sam does not want to lose her, although for all practical purposes he has come too late to make his claim.Written and directed by Max Winkler, "Ceremony" is an indie we saw recently on DVD format. Zoe, a thirty something gorgeous woman has had a fling with the much younger Sam. Obviously he thought their brief romance would continue, but the reality Zoe has moved on. Now she is the bride to be and Sam arrives at the last moment to stir feelings she had not felt before. Marshall, on the other hand, feels used by Sam, a man he felt was his friend, but he is finding otherwise. Zoe shows signs of being unstable as she has last minute doubts the night before the big day. Unfortunately for Sam, he has come too late to even think he can rekindle what he had with Zoe.Michael Angarano started early in films and he is finally coming into his own. He has worked hard and deserves what he is getting. The emphasis in the film is the age difference between Sam and Zoe. Mr. Angarano looks much younger than he is against the more mature Uma Thurman who appears as Zoe. Ms. Thurman is always a welcome addition to any film she graces. Mr. Winkler gets good performances from his cast. Reece Thompson, especially, seen as Marshall, is one of the best things in the film. Lee Pace, who plays Whit, makes an impression as the movie star. Jake Johnson is on hand to keep things running smoothly as the brother of the bride and should have been seen more. Mr. Johnson livens things up each time he appears on the screen.

mrocco-1 THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! I have a guilty secret. When I start to watch a movie that I've taped on my DVR I usually come to IMDb and read some of the reviews just to get a sense of where it's going before I give up my time. I know, terrible, but there you have it.So I read some of the reviews here and though uh-oh, I might as well work while I watch this one, which I did but not very successfully. As in I didn't get much work done because I was completely entertained by this movie. I know we've seen all kinds of wedding movies with similar plots. But if you really think about it there are only 5-6 plots in movies anyway (if you take out the specific details). So I'm fine with watching similar plots over and over, because there really is no choice on that anyway.I thought the storyline was great. I read another person say that the characters were all unlikable, but I disagree. I thought that it was a story about a very immature 23 year old who had a fling with an older woman and is handling it like a 23 year old. His insecurities made him act a certain way, but I had empathy for the pain he was really feeling and and the sincerity in his feels of love towards this woman. He was the kind of person who has the gift of gab and which led him to throw phony compliments to his friend while he manipulates and uses him. But that didn't take away from what I saw as real caring for his friend, Marshall. In fact I'm sure Marshall really appreciated the attention he got from Sam as he had his own issues which made him appear as someone who doesn't get out much.I also appreciated the fact that this wasn't the predictable boy loves girl, boy tries to break up impending marriage and boy succeeds.I read someone else complain that Zoe was marrying an *hole who you knew was an *hole from the start. I didn't see it that way at all. I thought the finance Whit was 'who he was', but really loved and cared for Zoe. He even allowed this 'fling' to be a pen pal of Zoes and when he shows up at the wedding there was no hissy fits, because he loves Zoe so much. Yes he was a bit self absorbed but so are many successful people.I thought the emotions that Zoe felt for Sam were very real and appropriate for what their situation really was and her reluctance to hurt him was well written. I didn't take it that she didn't love Whit or was marrying for the wrong reasons. Her relationship with Sam was this slice of life thing for her and she was happy moving forward in her life, but for Sam it was so much more. At the end you could see that Sam (and Marshall for that matter) grew up a little bit more. Isn't that true for your one big heartbreak? It sends you to the next phase of your life, and that's what I felt for both boys at the end. New phase. Growing up, but not yet grown up. Ah, to be young and that crazy in love again!

djmc-3 Uma Thurman was the SOLE REASON for renting this film--- none of the other actors are familiar to us, except for Michael Angarano (from The Forbidden Kingdom) in his first "adult" leading role!The leads are competent, but you still wonder if the movie would have done better at the box office had Jesse Eisenberg hadn't backed out last minute (Angarano was supposed to play "Marshall", the sidekick).Nevertheless, this movie reminded me of "Rushmore," even though the plot is more like "The Graduate." (If you've seen both movies, then you'll understand my analogy).Max Winkler, son of The Fonz, has done a great job as a rookie director. He's got a great future ahead....Finally, I have to say that Jake Johnson ("Teddy") really adds a "Hangover" dimension to this film, in a good way! He is only one of many quirky supporting characters who make this a lovable film....one you're likely to purchase rather than rent!