This man’s name is Earl Stone (Eastwood), a horticulturist first found in the film’s 2005 prologue accepting awards with a daylily convention clad within a bowtie and also a wide smile; a smile never affected by his missing his daughter Iris’ wedding (their bride-to-be played with the director’s real daughter yesflicks.com , Alison Eastwood). A few beats later, twelve years have fallen and gone, so has the smile. The internet has killed Earl’s business, leading the lending company to foreclose on him, and neither his daughter, nor his ex-wife (Dianne Wiest) want something to do with him - his granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga) may be the only exception.And it’s in an event for Ginny a young man approaches Earl having a fateful money-making opportunity. “Just for driving?” Earl asks; it’s initially Earl’s personality perfectly embodies the con. Soon, he, a vintage white driver who doesn’t dare surpass the velocity limit, is comfortably transporting cocaine around the world.

Jay (Dev Patel) travels from Britain on the Punjab province of Pakistan armed which has a suitcase of clothes and multiple passports. Along the way, he rents two are eco-friendly and buys supplies-duct tape, an additional suitcase, a gun-all while scoping out a massive wedding going down in the region. What happens next shouldn’t certainly be a surprise: Jay kidnaps your beloved partner-to-be, Samira (Radhika Apte), at gunpoint and whisks her along the border. The full extent of Jay’s scheme or his allegiances should remain unrevealed here, but suffice it to say that Samira isn’t as innocent as she seems, and Jay’s motives tend to be mercenary than heartless. The plan goes awry, relationships evolve, and India gets a backdrop for just a sexy adventure shared by two strangers.

Winterbottom deserves some credit for keeping exposition and pat psychology as small as possible. He’s more focused on actions than backstory, that gives The Wedding Guest with sufficient base-level mystery to make sure that it’s gripping for a minimum of the first hour. The film gains advantage from how little it initially informs us about the characters; once Winterbottom explicates their motives, the luster sets out to fade. Patel excels at playing steely efficiency (watching him meticulously plot the kidnapping is much more fun than any situation that follows), but that quality belies a feeling of reckless desperation that bubbles on the surface when things go away schedule. Meanwhile, Apte holds her against Patel, using her gentle façade for secretive, ulterior ends.

Our initial intrigue shows further cracks even as we realize there’s over meets the eye within this island. Our first clue is mysterious salesman Reid Miller (Jeremy Strong), who repeatedly chases McConaughey around the dock holding a briefcase, conveniently past too far as the boat departs. We also see flashes of McConaughey’s son sitting in front of his computer in an effort to block out his abusive stepfather free movies . What would be the connection between father and son?The answer is revealed inside a preposterous plot twist. Rather than pleasantly surprising us having a shocking moment that contributes layers as to what we’ve already seen, the twist causes us to feel so misled that any of us realize we’ve wasted our time purchasing the characters. In other words, the reveal removes all stakes in the movie we presume we’ve been watching getting the club this point.