Katie O'Connell's wedding with Hugo Delaney was one-half Three Weddings and a Funeral and one-half Game of Thrones’ “Red Wedding” episode. The groom and his family will be killed, but she manages to run away and keep on running. The cops are convinced she murdered everyone, but her naïve on-again-off-again lover believes she must be innocent in Daran Johnson & Oliver Lyttelton’s Wedding Season, which premieres tomorrow on Hulu.
For some reason, O’Connell kept assuring Stefan Bridges she was determined to marry the rich and obnoxious Delaney, despite their weird chemistry. Nevertheless, their paths kept crossing at weddings. It was usually just a matter of lucky proximity, because they do not exactly share similar social circles. Unfortunately, Bridges really called attention to himself at O’Connell’s wedding, inviting her to make a Graduate-style escape, which she brutally declined. Even though he left before the massacre, the cops naturally suspect him, so O’Connell considerately breaks him out of the station.
As we learn in flashbacks, the Delaneys were a seriously mobbed-up family. Whoever killed them is now chasing the fugitive couple—and they mean business. However, Bridges has lingering trust issues, for good reason. While O’Connell and Bridges try to evade the police, the escalating body-count makes them look more guilty.
Wedding Season is a pretty amusing combination of romantic comedy and ruthless criminal vendettas. Frankly, Gavin Drea plays Bridges with such bumbling shtick, he really starts to try viewer patience. However, Rosa Salazar more than compensates as the fierce, charming, and borderline psychotic O’Connell. You really can believe she would do almost anything, which she will. Watching her pull him through the 39 Steps-like chases sequences and near escapes is quite entertaining.
Jamie Michie and Jade Harrison are also mordantly droll as the two cops with a Tracy-and-Hepburn-ish thing going on, who doggedly pursue O’Connell and Bridges. Ioanna Kimbook also earns Ab-Fab-style laughs as Bridges’ chronic-one-night-standing platonic pal Suji. The rest of his concerned friends act and sound like they were assembled by a committee of sitcom writers and corporate diversity trainers.
Regardless, Johnson & Lyttelton’s dialogue is definitely peppy and directors George Kane and Laura Scrivano maintain the madcap energy it deserves. Salazar does star-making work, leading the chaos. (I don’t often cover rom-coms, but a lot of people die in Wedding Season, so in this case, its okay.) Recommended for fans of the recent wave of mystery-comedies, Wedding Season starts streaming tomorrow (9/8) on Hulu.