User reviews

Three young couples vie to win a magazine contest by holding their 'themed' weddings in public, with the winners being awarded a first prize of a brand new home. Step forward the three couples: nudists Michael and Joanna; tennis-mad Josef and Meredith, and Hollywood musical fans Matt and Samantha.

The fun comes for us as as viewers as we join the fly-on the wall documentary team that follows all three couples as the wedding organisers and their respective families try to get the weddings together in time for the contest.

This is a showcase of modern British comedy talent. Jimmy Carr, Felicity Montagu, Stephen Mangan, Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson and Alison Steadman all do their bit. But the real stars are the lesser known Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins as the camp wedding organisers who won't let anything get in the way of the couples' dream day.

This is an enjoyable little film, with a nice basic idea, littered with lots of good performances. It is 'smile' humour, rather than 'laugh out loud' stuff. But the smiles are here a-plenty. It is also surprisingly moving at times as well, and refreshingly free of cynicism. If at times you doubt the sincerity of some of those involved, the ending leaves you on a high.

'Confetti' is not brilliant or ground-breaking, but it will make you smile. And that's not such a bad recommendation, is it?

'Confetti' is a funny and charming British mockumentary, but it sure as hell isn't on-par with mockumentaries like 'Spinal Tap' and 'Best in Show'. 'Confetti' is about a fashion bridal magazine called 'Confetti'. The two executives of the magazine (Jimmy Carr and Felicity Montagu) form a contest involving three different couples seeing who can put on the most original wedding. They choose Matt and Sam (Martin Freeman and Jessica Hynes) two tone-deaf theater enthusiasts whose theme is Broadway Musicals ; Josef and Isabelle (Stephen Mangan and Meredith MacNeill) two wannabe pro-tennis players whose theme is, no big surprise, tennis ; and Michael and Joanna (Robert Webb and Olivia Colman), two nudists whose theme is a "naturist" wedding. With the help of two flamboyantly gay wedding planners (Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins), the three couples set on a trek to plan their weddings and perhaps win the Confetti magazine most original wedding contest.

'Confetti' is an interesting concept, but disappointing in that they could have done so much more with it. The beginning is very funny and the ending sequence is flat-out hilarious, but there are so many in-between moments in 'Confetti' that aren't very funny and drag out. The actors are all very talented and funny, especially Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins who are constant scene-stealers as the bitchy/gay wedding planners. Some of the time, I was confused in what I was watching -- a comedy or a drama. In some instances it becomes too sentimental to be funny, which is usually not a good route to take when making a mockumentary. Satire is a very hard thing to accomplish well in a movie, and 'Confetti' hits and misses, but luckily for the viewers it hits more than it misses. Grade: B-

I really wanted to enjoy this one. I great cast made up from shows I love, an interesting premise - what could go wrong? Well for starters, a lack of a decent plot. There's a flimsy storyline about three couples getting their (insane) dream weddings, and the preparations that lead to the wedding, but this appears to be nothing more than a narrative thread so they could decide what order to have the jokes in. Secondly, all the couples only have one joke. Admittedly, for two out of the three couples it is a funny joke, but it wears thin towards the end and could easily have been trimmed to make the film lighter. However, one couple (Josef and Isabelle) are just relentlessly annoying, their story falling flat. Finally, all the actors appear to be playing their sitcom roles. Martin Freeman plays his character as at least a relative of Tim from the office. Steven Mangan is Guy from Green Wing. The guys from Peep show are their characters, Jimmy Carr is Jimmy Carr. Only Jessica Stevenson is allowed to make a new character from herself, nowhere near to Daisy from Spaced (which, would've made an interesting addition to the film). But whilst I love Green Wing, The Office and Peep Show, it doesn't mean I want to see these characters merely transferred to film. However, despite these criticisms, the film is funny, with scenes that had me laughing loudly in the cinema. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as good as it could've been with more work, more jokes and original characters.

Apparently this director told Robert Webb and Olivia Coleman she'd pixelate out their private parts for the film, and then they went to the screening to find she'd done no such thing. She aired them nude without their consent and they didn't even find out til they were sitting in the cinema watching the thing. Disgusting director and a terrible film.

I went to see confetti the other day. Lots of people were saying that it wasn't going to be very good or that is was going to be lame, but it was actually quite good. Even though it was a film it was made a lot like a documentary with camera's following the couples, this was OK though i thought. The gay wedding planners were a laugh at one point it was even them breaking down in tears instead of the couples. But be warned there is quite a lot of nudity in this movie (naked men playing badminton etc. on a naturist camp) But over all it was actually A lot better than I expected. One of the best lines for me had to be the one where one of the men says to his wife-to-be 'Can't you get it into your thick head that I do respect you!' It's a good laugh for anyone who wants to go see it. x

I was expecting this to be fairly decent as I've seen virtually all of the actors in other comedies, but after watching it I certainly wouldn't want to see it again. However, since it is apparently improvised I didn't give it a lower rating, as there were some genuinely funny moments, but these were few and far between. The improvisation made the film feel like it had a lack of direction. Robert Webb said this movie was a regret, and certainly his couple were the worst - the only joke was that they were nude. The other two couples were a little better, one wedding was based around musicals, the other around tennis. I felt that this film had so much more potential, considering the actors involved. While I wouldn't consider anyone's acting bad, I simply didn't find the film particularly funny, or romantic, and a lot of the characters were just too flat and not properly fleshed out (such as the gay wedding planners).

Delightful British mockumentary may not have all the sustainability and directional thrust of a vintage Guest film but still offers a refreshing and original venture into the popular up-and-coming genre of fake non-fiction. Taking place over several weeks, Confetti comically documents three very unique couples and their eccentric quests to win over a bridal magazine's "most original wedding" contest. With the help of an offbeat pace, these couples are transported to the surreal world of grossly irrelevant party planning, as imagined by two wacky staff party lovers.

It sounds like mildly stimulating entertainment, and for the most part it does play out as an elegant time waster, but this inventive mock-up must not be overlooked when viewing all of the subtle, quirky direction that creator Debbie Isitt employs to give this film some remarkable shades of sincerity against the absurd contest parody. Each of these fabulously improvised couples help make the wacky farce as eclectic as possible, and while everyone embraces their roles, some viewers will feel loud silences being awkwardly filled in by the hard working cast. At times, there is simply too much space for the improv comedy to truly take hold with this cast, but many subtle hints at brilliance lie beneath the half-great attempt, justifying a viewing to any open minded, mature yet irreverent adults.

I caught this movie on the TV channel sky Valentine without knowing anything about it except this brief synopsis "A charming British comedy starring Martin Freeman and Olivia Colman about three couples competing for "most original wedding of the year". Based on the fact that I like Freeman and Coleman I decided to give it a go.

Plot In A Paragraph: Three couples, Sam and Matt (Jessica Stevenson and Martin Freeman), Isabelle and Josef (Meredith MacNeill and Stephen Mangan) and Joanna and Michael (Olivia Colman and Robert Webb) all compete to win a magazine competition for 'The Most Original Wedding' in order to win a house.

I started to watch this, and flicked on here about fifteen minutes in, at which point I found out Colman and Webb were told by the filmmakers, that their nude scenes would be pixelated, and only found out they weren't at a screening of the movie. I decided to turn it off out of respect for Colman.

A highly entertaining and original comedy using the cream of British comedy acting talent, who spent weeks improvising before arriving at the final script.

At times the writer/director Debbie Isitt doesn't seem sure whether to make her characters comic or endearing, but usually succeeds in doing both.

The 'Tennis Match' wedding is very funny, while the cast of non-dancers failing to achieve perfect symmetry in the Busby Berkeley sequence adds to the general hilarity.

Martin Freeman gets better with each role, Alison Steadman turns in her usual immaculate performance, with Jimmy Carr making the most of his first big screen role. Look out for the spectacularly camp wedding planners, who nearly steal the show from bigger names.

If you liked 'The Office' and 'Shaun of the Dead' you'll love this.

Confetti is a good film, just not a great comedy. Done in the style of the mockumentry (think Best in Show meets the Office), it brings together people from some of the UK's top comedy shows (Spaced, Green Wing, Royal Family, The Office etc).

However, the problem is, non of them are the stars. Apart from the ever-excellent Martin Freeman, non of these people are stars. Most have played either bit parts in better sit-coms (Spaced), or have starred in average ones (Green Wing).

Though Confetti has a good story and a lot of heart it misses a lot of the laughs. Which it shouldn't. Jimmy Carr, who is always funny in an unlikeable way, doesn't seem to be let free here, even though it is supposedly improvised.

This is a running problems in Confetti. They have hired a lot of funny people, but have tried to get them to focus more on the character and less on their small screen persona's. Unfortunately, their small screen persona's are funny, while there big screen character lack laughs.

This is not to say there aren't any laughs. But it all to often feels a bit too much like a reality TV programme, instead of a mock-reality TV programme, especially when it comes to Freeman and Jessica Stevenson's (also on top form) family. The uncomfortableness here is not funny, unlike David Brent's in the office - it's just annoying.

It does have a lot of heart, and the two gay wedding planners are, inevitably, the highlight. However, if the producers and directors had told the actors to be funny, instead of act funny, it might have been a different story.

I want my time back! I have never walked out on a movie in my life because if I’m going to criticize something I think it only fair to know what I’m talking about. This one really made me reconsider that policy. Improvisation is a good exercise for actors in acting school and for scene development in rehearsal. It’s not writing. It’s not even bad writing. When a film is composed entirely of improvised scenes you have a movie that has no writing. You might as well try to make a film without direction. It is just bad film making. If you want improvisation get out some Jonathan Winters or Robin Williams tapes. The only thing I take away from this film is a curiosity to discover what other work some of the cast has done. This is a talented cast of fine comic actors completely wasted in an excruciating, painful to watch exercise. They can’t be blamed for this disaster. Even the copious nudity became tedious and boring. Maybe it’s time for films to carry a “Contains material of improvisational nature” warning.

I've been on a bit of a British kick lately after getting an all-region DVD player and some UK Region 2 discs. At the moment I have been checking out the hilarious series "Spaced" from the guys behind the hilarious Shaun of the Dead. One thing I love about British comedy is the use of many of the same actors/friends in a variety of projects; for instance, two of the stars from "Spaced" are in last year's brilliant mockumentary Confetti. Much like Christopher Guest does here in America, director/conceiver Debbie Isitt has compiled a who's who of actors from England for an almost totally improvised film. Like Guest's earlier work Best in Show, Confetti relies on a clash of disparate personalities on their quest to win a competition, here a house by having the most original wedding. This film has all the comedy and heart that I had hoped For Your Consideration would have and didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed the story progression and laughed right on through to the end.

The fantastic Martin Freeman and Jessica Stevenson (along with a bit part from Mark Heap make up the duo from "Spaced") really carry the film with their natural comedic instincts and ability to drive a sequence of events forward. Much of the bottled up emotion and facial expressions that were such a great success in "The Office" make Freeman the most realistic character here as he and Stevenson attempt their musical wedding. Rounding out the other wedding contestants are the tennis pros Meredith MacNeill and Stephen Mangan (the attitude and destructive personalities remind me of Parker Posey and her husband role in Best in Show) and the naturalists Olivia Colman and Robert Webb (with impressive comfortability being nude almost the entire duration). The three couples have their moments with the quirky cast of characters included in their back-story, but also in their dealings with the wedding planners. Played perfectly by Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins, these two really steal the show with their professionalism being brought to the edge of insanity at every turn. How they deal with the egos of the contestants and how they try to stay diplomatic with everyone is priceless.

At the conclusion of the film, I really found myself enjoying all that went on. True, while the nudity was a bit off-putting, as I didn't realize how abundant it would be, it still worked in the context of the story; they needed to be nude in order for the audience to buy into their lifestyle and characters. The little things, like that, are done right here and make me think of what could be in these types of movies in America. All the players are improvising yet none are checking the realism of their words at the door, they swear and demean others as their characters believably would in those situations. There is no stipulation that would most likely be included in Hollywood of cleaning up your language for a PG13 rating. Also, I give the filmmakers kudos for not cheating the audience by having the whole film build up to the weddings and only showing us bit parts with reactions being more prominent. Thankfully we get to see the entirety of each wedding and that payoff really makes the ride completely worth it.

I wanted to like this film more than I actually did. This is a warm, enjoyable, though slightly lacklustre, feel good romantic comedy headed by the new wave of British comedy talents who have hit British television screens in recent years. Anyone who is familiar with Alan Partridge, The Royle Family, People Like Us or The Office will recognise the cast although it doesn't quite match the comic tones of those programmes.

The worthy motto of the story is this: marry for love and love alone which is why the most solid and normal of the three couples, played by Jessica Stevenson and Martin Freeman, eventually win the competition for having the most original wedding. The other two couples are there principally to provide the humour and although I did not laugh out loud at all the jokes, I saw where they were coming from.

Go and see it for a feel-good British romp. Certainly an alternative to The Da Vinci Code - especially as tickets for that are running out.

This is pretty much what you expect an improvized movie to be like. Yes, I know Creep 1 and 2 were superb but they were horror. Comedy is like music; it has a rhythm, a tonality where everything has to be timed just right *The brilliant atonal and arrhythmic music notwithstanding). I'm not saying horror doesn't need a certain cadence too but it's a bit more...chromatic. It's supposed to be jarring.

Simply put, there aren't jokes. There isn't funny stuff in this movie. It's like all the worst parts of reality TV: obnoxious characters in excruciating circumstances, trying desperately to do something they have no competence for.

It's painful. And the winner kind of has the advantage from the start.

I feel sorry for the actors.

Saw a preview of this tonight. Good cast, very well acted or should that be improvised. All built up to the actual 'character weddings' which actually surprised in terms of originality although the winner was not hard to spot from an early stage.

Good to see Jessica Stevenson on the big screen and Martin Freeman playing…well a Martin Freeman character. Other recognisable recent comedy faces support very well (nice to see Mark Heap – Alan Statham from the Green Wing cropping up as the Registrar) Some laugh out loud moments, bit of an 'Americanised' Epilogue, but general chuckles throughout. Prepare yourselves for full frontal nudity throughout too. Would probably been happy to wait for a DVD viewing if the tickets hadn't been free but would recommend it. A good, original British Comedy film. Not a four weddings but enjoyable nonetheless.

Christopher Guest can breathe easy, his crown as the Master of improv feature films is under no threat at all. Aware of the positive reviews that "Confetti" had generated, I was anticipating a well-conceived, superbly performed laugh-fest that was a cut above. Was I ever in for a rude shock! Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Julia Davis and Alison Steadman alone may hold their heads high. These performers acquitted themselves well in spite of overwhelming opposition from an under worked concept, a total lack of effective direction or judicious editing and a cast of over-actors, out of their depth and intent on caricaturing their roles to within an inch of their life. Without the entire tennis-themed nuptials, you would be guaranteed a slightly less awful film, so woefully bad was each teeth-grindingly drawn out scene involving these dull and unwatchable characters going about their irritating and unconvincing lives. It was a great shock for me to later learn that the actress who limped along as the female half of this unpleasant partnership, was actually a graduate of the highly esteemed RADA. As for the actor (and I hesitate in labeling him thus) portraying Josef, such inexcusable miscasting and lack of conviction has rarely been seen since Keanu Reeves was afforded the opportunity to mangle the bard in "Much Ado About Nothing". This film is laboured, unoriginal, heavy on predictability and stereotypes, and yet full of wasted opportunities to be genuinely fresh and amusing. I noted that a fellow board user gushingly stated that he had not seen anything as funny as "Confetti" since "The 40 Year Old Virgin". That about sums it up for me!

This is a Jolly little English film, good to pass an hour or two away. It is filmed with a the hand held camera. This drives me crazy and I think it is a Lazy way of making films. The Tennis pair have batteries on their backs when they fall over this is another Sign of a lazy production .It is worth looking at and makes a change from Hollywood eye junk , as I call a lot of rubbish coming from America at the moment. There was no one killed in this film or no guns. The cast were all very good but the gay was slightly over the top. The nude pair were very brave and played their parts extremely well. He will take a ribbing from his friends. the tennis girl was also brave with the comments about her.

The weddings in the end were quite entertaining , but the journey to them was painful. A mixture of comedy actors from channel 4 and BBC2 produced another British comedy with out any laughs. (See 'Shaun of the dead'). What must have appeared like a good idea on paper , especially after the success of sitcoms like 'The office', produce a bore of a film that seemed to go on forever. The acting generally was poor and the script if there was one totally unfunny. Quite frankly I could have left after 10 minutes , and I wish I had. What is happening to the British film industry , every time I go to see the latest offering I come away very disappointed. This was easily the worst . I didn't think anything could have been as awful as 'Shaun of the dead' but this was. 'About a Boy' was the last decent comedy to come from this country.

Saw Confetti today and was not sure what to expect, I knew it had a great cast from all over British comedy TV - Green Wing, Peep Show, Spaced, The Office and it had also been written by the brilliant Debbie Isitt but I'd heard mixed reviews so I went in with an open mind; I LOVED IT!!! I'm not a sucker for romantic comedies, or comedies in general, I don't tend to laugh out loud in them so I knew I was in for a good time when I'd laughed a great deal in the first five minutes. I won't over elaborate but basically its about a wedding magazine offering a prize of a new home to the most original wedding. It gets down to three; a sweet couple who want to do a musical-themed wedding, an egoistical, victory-obsessed couple who want to have a tennis-themed wedding and a naturist couple determined to have their wedding in the buff. Needless to say the cast are brilliant and the film is not only hilarious but also very touching at times. Go and see it! the PERFECT romantic comedy, another nail in Richard "One-trick-pony" Curtis' coffin.

You cannot watch 'Confetti' and not think of 'Best in Show' and 'Waiting for Guffman'. Comparisons are inevitable. And reading the user comments on IMDb, you just know the relatives of the UK cast and crew REALLY want this to be a success. But hoping isn't enough. The effort behind this movie was noble, and the result OK, but truthfully, not great. Not all wishes are granted! Better luck next time.

'Confetti' has some admirable characteristics--- such as the straight-faced realism of the nudists, for example. But, sadly, it simply lacks something that the Christopher Guest movies had. Dunno what it is... but an analogy might help. 'Confetti' would be like sitting in a shallow and tepid swimming pool. OK; not bad, but so what? 'Best in Show', on the other hand, would be like being dashed away downstream in a powerful river current. Or something like that. Guest's stuff (co-written, some of it, with Eugene Levy, of course) was not just notes on a page, it was music.

Basically, the plot of 'Confetti' involved a British bride-to-be magazine, called Confetti. They stage a PR stunt wherein couples compete for the wackiest theme wedding, with the prize being a new house. The three finalists are the tennis couple, the naked couple, and the Broadway musical couple. Somehow, the three couples don't do enough with their assigned thematic eccentricities. That is, the naked couple is just naked. Nothing else actually happens about any of that--- nobody's bits go astry, no joke lines are developed--- well, nothing happens. The tennis couple is just plain annoying. The tennis chick is a fairly blatant attempt to mimic the Parker Posey characters from the Christopher Guest movies. The tennis guy is just plain annoying--- so much so that I'm sure many audience members just wanted to go find the actor, take him out back, and beat the s*** out of him. But I guess that's good acting though??? The Broadway musical couple is nice enough--- but they, too, do nothing. No fancy is taken with the songs, the music, or any of the potential themes that could be given comedic mileage here.

Soooooo, this isn't a BAD movie. But it is not in any way a good movie, either. It is too derivative (of the Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy series), too timid, too lame. It is not really a British version of the Guest work--- rather, it is a British START on maybe sometime possibly in the future doing something perhaps sort of like the Guest stuff, might be maybe. And that is not nearly enough to book a cinema and run this film for.

To be honest, i don't understand all the great comments made about this film. It was bound to be a good film considering the excellent cast (from The Office, Alan Partridge, Spaced, all my top favourite comedies) and i was looking forward to seeing it. However, it did not make me laugh in the slightest. It has been filmed on the model of The Office, it's DEJAVU and doesn't work out in my opinion. The story line is silly, i didn't find it funny in the slightest and it bored me so much i would never watch it again ( i have just bought the DVD and i'm selling it back straightaway!) I would certainly not recommend this film to anyone unless you have time to waste.