A children's book author, Sam Davis, is presenting his newest work. To our surprise, only his friend Marshall has come to support Sam. The book is terrible, perhaps a bit better than the previous one whose subject was a flying koala bear. Sam has invited Marshall to come along for a week-end in Long Island. The real purpose of the outing is to crash the wedding of Zoe and Whit. Secretly, Sam has been madly in love with this woman, who also got interested in him, for just a brief period of time.Sam and Marshall are staying in a hotel near the mansion where the celebration will be held. Sam decides to crash the party down the beach. Zoe is surprised. when she realizes what is going on. She has no excuse for not introducing the crashers to Whit, who likes the newcomers. The duo is obviously out of the league of a screen actor with a lot of money, who is civil in putting them up and expects them to attend the wedding. Zoe begins to regret her involvement with a younger man on the eve of her own wedding. Sam does not want to lose her, although for all practical purposes he has come too late to make his claim.Written and directed by Max Winkler, "Ceremony" is an indie we saw recently on DVD format. Zoe, a thirty something gorgeous woman has had a fling with the much younger Sam. Obviously he thought their brief romance would continue, but the reality Zoe has moved on. Now she is the bride to be and Sam arrives at the last moment to stir feelings she had not felt before. Marshall, on the other hand, feels used by Sam, a man he felt was his friend, but he is finding otherwise. Zoe shows signs of being unstable as she has last minute doubts the night before the big day. Unfortunately for Sam, he has come too late to even think he can rekindle what he had with Zoe.Michael Angarano started early in films and he is finally coming into his own. He has worked hard and deserves what he is getting. The emphasis in the film is the age difference between Sam and Zoe. Mr. Angarano looks much younger than he is against the more mature Uma Thurman who appears as Zoe. Ms. Thurman is always a welcome addition to any film she graces. Mr. Winkler gets good performances from his cast. Reece Thompson, especially, seen as Marshall, is one of the best things in the film. Lee Pace, who plays Whit, makes an impression as the movie star. Jake Johnson is on hand to keep things running smoothly as the brother of the bride and should have been seen more. Mr. Johnson livens things up each time he appears on the screen.

I watched this movie with my family after viewing the trailer. The trailer depicted the movie as being a road-trip type romantic comedy, and as a group we decided that it looked like a decent movie. Sadly, we were wrong. Our big problem with the movie was that the main character Sam Davis (Michael Angarano) is such an a-hole that we couldn't engage emotionally with this movie. He's rude. He's a liar. He manipulates people. While he has the emotional intelligence of a 5 year old, its hard to imagine this guy writes children books, as he has no innocence and no heart. I find it very hard to enjoy a movie where the main character is such an a-hole that you would like to shoot him yourself, and you are hoping throughout the duration of the movie that he does NOT get the girl. There was nothing "feel good" about this movie.

Sam (Michael Angarano) is going to take his friend Marshall (Reece Thompson) on an adventure. It starts with Sam referring to liking a book in his "younger and more vulnerable years." Sam used to think it was written about him; Marshall thinks it is written about him. And if you already know which book they are referring to, the characteristics of Sam and Marshall, and the adventure they are about to go on, instantly fall into place.Marshall doesn't yet know, but Sam is chasing after a girl. You probably already knew that because after all, that's what Gatsby was doing too. And because "Ceremony" is a romantic comedy. The girl is Zoe (Uma Thurman) and she's about to marry Whit because he's rich and handsome. Sam, although just as immature, is likely a bit more well-read than Gatsby, and he makes some hilarious and shrewd remarks about Whit and Zoe, their relationship, and about the relationship he would like to have with Zoe."Ceremony" is not actually like "The Great Gatsby", but the simple parallels that you can make amongst all the characters, illustrates how anyone would be able to find something to connect to in Fitzgerald's classic. And then afterwards, you will be able to find an extra layer of meaning in "Ceremony".This is a romantic comedy, or coming-of-age journey, that is delightfully funny, whimsically quirky, but with a real sense of character. It is written and directed by Max Winkler, son of the Fonz, and he shows a natural ability coupled with a strong sense of humour and intellect. What makes me confident that he will become a great writer is when his characters discuss the art of writing characters all the while being completely oblivious to their own flaws.Michael Angarano shows that he is becoming the star that he deserves to be (if this finds an audience) with his quick delivery of witty lines and his ability to sport a moustache and a burnt-orange suit throughout the entire movie without ever making a single joke feel tired. The younger Reese Thompson (playing the year-and-a-half older Marshall) seemed a bit out of his league, but then again he's playing a character who is a bit out of his league.Although it takes place during a weekend wedding with a guy trying to win over a girl, it doesn't follow any standard romantic comedy trajectories. Marhsall observes those around him as he slowly matures, and Sam gets pretty much exactly what he deserves for his current level of maturity and understanding of human nature. "Ceremony" gives us that green light at the end of the dock to believe in, the orgastic future of filmmaking.

Uma Thurman was the SOLE REASON for renting this film--- none of the other actors are familiar to us, except for Michael Angarano (from The Forbidden Kingdom) in his first "adult" leading role!The leads are competent, but you still wonder if the movie would have done better at the box office had Jesse Eisenberg hadn't backed out last minute (Angarano was supposed to play "Marshall", the sidekick).Nevertheless, this movie reminded me of "Rushmore," even though the plot is more like "The Graduate." (If you've seen both movies, then you'll understand my analogy).Max Winkler, son of The Fonz, has done a great job as a rookie director. He's got a great future ahead....Finally, I have to say that Jake Johnson ("Teddy") really adds a "Hangover" dimension to this film, in a good way! He is only one of many quirky supporting characters who make this a lovable film....one you're likely to purchase rather than rent!