Although "Betsy's Wedding" was written and directed by its star, Alan Alda, the supporting cast is far more interesting (and I doubt this was intentional). Contractor and his wife in suburban New York need an extra $30K to pay for their unconventional daughter's wedding (if the bride-to-be is so offbeat and unconventional, I'm not sure why she wants to take part in the very conventional institution of marriage). Alda and Madeline Kahn are well-matched as husband and wife, but neither are very funny, which can be blamed on the trite script. As Betsy, Molly Ringwald hasn't anything to work with, either. Much better are Ally Sheedy as Betsy's sister, a cop who can't find a man; Anthony LaPaglia and Burt Young as mobsters; Joe Pesci as Uncle Oscar; and Catherine O'Hara as a glinty-eyed in-law. Alda writes group scenes with everyone talking at once as if he overdosed on Robert Altman's "A Wedding"--and even that would be fine if the arguments were colorful or amusing. Instead, Betsy gets upset when the wedding grows too big, or when no one can agree on the music for the ceremony, or why grandma doesn't understand the exclusion of God from the wedding vows. Alda constantly aims for easy targets--easy and familiar. *1/2 from ****
Review of Betsy's Wedding
