The fiancé wants out of the relationship 22 days before wedding day. The dumpee, who for 10 years had been through too much dating, had been hoping she’d be married by now. Michal says, “I have the hall. I have the dress.” Emphatically, she insists that the wedding event will happen as scheduled. In the film “The Wedding Plan,” Michal says, “It’s a small task for God to find me a groom.” That, pretty much, is her entire plan.
This woman-worried-why feels much pressure. Is she not attractive? (She is attractive, in a regular person sort of way.) Is she too much of a handful? (Well, who isn’t?) Will she marry any guy at this point? (Life is exhausting.)
Does she believe in God surely enough that He will do this one small thing for her? (You will have to stay to the end of the movie.) Eventual marriage figures in a substantial percentage of cinema storytelling, but there’s never been a fraught focus like this one. It’s fun in a humbly tortured sort of way.
Noa Koler’s performance paints the salient texture of this film, though her character’s friends and mom and the necessary array of men fill out the story well. Koler’s face expresses so many nuances of the burden her character inflicts upon herself. In a curious way worth watching, this Michal character has her act together.
Establishing a caring professional bond, a matchmaker drags a core admission from Michal. In Israel, the location and culture of this story, a matchmaker, matchmaker makes her a match or two or three. Comfortable, it isn’t, and wedding day draws ever closer.
At one juncture, Michal declares herself healed. Whatever the meaning and extent of that outlier moment, a few radiant smiles almost balance every scene before and after them. You’ll start wondering whether and how predictability will guide the rest of the script.
Loosely tethered to romantic comedy tradition, “The Wedding Plan” pulls off its own kind of confidence with a surprisingly accessible brand of “oy vey.”