Film title: My Big Gay Italian Wedding

Director: Alessandro Genovesi

Staring: Cristiano Caccamo, Salvatore Esposito

Venue: ACMI The session is closed. Queer Film Festival is still on until March 25th

Rating: 3.5 rainbow flags out of 5

By Emilio Lanera

If you are fed up with movies focussing on queer characters’ internal battles over their sexuality, My Big Gay Italian Wedding (MBGIW) provides a refreshing take of LGBTQI characters on film. Based on Anthony Wilkinson’s Broadway hit of the same name, MBGIW is a film that has you belly-laughing for the full 90 minutes.

The film centres on two Italian lovers, Antonio and Paolo. Given the movie’s title, it’s not a spoiler to say there’s an engagement, but the story begins when the couple visit Antonio’s conservative Catholic parents to announce the good news. Oh, and they are unaware he’s gay.

MBGIW focuses on Paolo and Antonio overcoming numerous hurdles as a gay couple in hilarious fashion, to make it down the aisle.

The film follows a traditional RomCom formula, but what makes MBGIW so special is that the gay characters are not confined to humorous sidekicks. Instead, they get to play the boring couple no one is overly interested in, even though they’re the central characters.

While being the boring couple may seem like a bad thing, for gay men portrayed on film it is something refreshing. Hits such as Clueless and My Best Friend's Wedding are just some examples where gay characters are confined to the role of funny best friend. They provide comedic relief when their straight female friend is facing some kind of boy trouble.

However, in MBGIW the role of funny sidekick is taken up by Antonio’s flatmates Donato and Bendetta. Both these characters are the main source of the films hilarity and feature just enough to deliver quality one-liners, but not too much to take the attention away from the central plot, which is Paolo and Antonio getting married.

While MBGIW may not be a cinematic masterpiece, it is definitely a lot of fun and the fact that the gay characters have been promoted to the main roles makes this film that extra bit special.