COMIC DRAMA; 1hr 34min
STARRING: Geraldine Brophy, Holly Shanahan, Patrick Wilson, Ryan O’Kane, Tina Regtien, John Rowles
Wedding belle: Shanahan
Everyone relishes a bargain, but it takes Rottweiler drive to repeatedly attack the garage-sale circuit. Deputy school principal Jill Rose (Brophy, so motherly you could reach out and cuddle her) and her sunny BFF, Muffy (Regtien), are circuit diehards. Which is kind of cute if you’re not Jill’s newly engaged daughter, Cheryl (Shanahan), who has suffered all her life at her mother’s thrifty hands and dreads the prospect of a recycled reception.
Cheryl loves her mum — everyone in this affirming New Zealand hit essentially means well. She is just not crazy about gnome place-card holders and their bric-a-brac like. And when she keeps her engagement to mechanic Stew (O’Kane) a secret from her mother, Jill is bitterly hurt.
Do we care? Absolutely. Second-Hand Wedding packs a lot of feeling into a compact package. Its township characters are lived-in and appealing, and their speed bumps are nothing they finally can’t handle. Which, like the tea that Jill and doting husband Brian (Wilson) like to drink, can’t help but be a comfort.
