Review: Relentless quirks aside, ‘The Dog Wedding’ gets in some nice rom-com bites

If only human love were as simple as the canine kind, as posited in James Lefkowitz’s “The Dog Wedding.” While English bulldogs Prince and Queenie connect instantly at a dog park, it’s their owners who have a harder time getting on the same page.

This film is a color-by-number rom-com, faithfully hitting every trope beat by beat. There’s the odd couple — a staunch German pickle executive, Ulrika (Rosalie Thomass), and the wild-man wrestler with a heart of gold, Matthew “The Manimal” (Matt Bloom). Though uptight Ulrika refuses to let herself become attached to the small Arizona town where she’s been tasked by her father with shutting down the pickle factory, Matt and his band of muscle-bound wrestlers win her over with their friendliness (and peyote tea). Soon enough, Ulrika loosens up and is ready to stand up to Dad, keep that pickle factory open and get those dogs hitched.

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“The Dog Wedding” is rather a minor effort, and the amateurish acting of the supporting cast and stilted energy are hard to forgive. The relentlessly quirky and whimsical tone is oppressively maintained with the constant tooting of two-piece band Ninja Trombone. While the affectations grate, and the rigid adherence to formula predictable, Bloom and Thomass manage to make the central relationship a tender one. If only there were more of the Manimal’s mother, the legendary wrestler Queen Kong as herself — now she has bite.

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“Dog Wedding.”

MPAA rating: PG-13 for some drug material and suggestive content.

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills.