The honeymoon doesn’t last long

“Kiss the Bride” is a poignant, ambitious romantic comedy that overreaches its premise with a hopelessly convoluted denouement; it plays like a last-minute attempt to pad out Tori Spelling’s part to justify her star billing.

It’s too bad that this modest-budget production took a wrong turn because up till then writer Ty Lieberman and director C. Jay Cox strike an adroit balance between humor and seriousness. Matt (Philipp Karner), the successful editor of a San Francisco gay magazine, returns to his small New Mexico hometown for the first time in 10 years to attend the marriage of Ryan (James O’Shea), his best friend in high school, to the sweetly ditsy -- but actually shrewd -- Alex (Spelling).

The whole film turns on the fact that Matt and Ryan were once secretly lovers. Matt came to accept that he was gay, whereas Ryan regarded their romance as a passing teenage phase. But when the men are reunited, they are forced to confront themselves beyond whatever attraction or feeling they may or may not still have for each other.

The film’s three stars are assured and appealing, but Cox and Lieberman’s attempt to honestly explore Matt and Ryan’s confused and contradictory emotions gets derailed when they yank Alex back into the plot in a contrived and credibility-defying manner.

Robert Foxworth and Tess Harper have some good moments as Ryan’s divorced parents, but many of the film’s characters are trite distractions.

--

“Kiss the Bride.” MPAA rating: R for sexual content and language. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Playing at the Regent Showcase, 614 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 934-2944.