When the stars aligned and Australian Mia Ramme (Laura Brent) met the handsome, orphaned British backpacker David Locking (Xavier Samuel) it was love at first sight. Or at least love for 10 days, before their respective journeys of self-discovery on a deserted islande were over and it was time to go back to reality. That is until she says "I love you!" and he says "It doesn't have to be over, you know?" and she says "Are you saying what I think you're saying, David?" to which he replies "Yes."

... or something along those lines. Anyway, David's proposal-of-sorts is accepted and Stephan Elliott's comedy about a groom and his three best men who travel to the Australian outback for a wedding is off and racing.

Of course they both have rather colourful friends and family, so the stage is set for them to spectacularly collide - ON THE WEDDING DAY - which as I'm sure you can imagine, is precisely what any young bride and/or groom want on their special day.

In an effort to have things running smoothly, Mia's Alpha Male father, Australian Senator Jim Ramme (Jonathan Biggins) has meticulously organised the whole shebang leaving nothing to go awry. His prized ram, Ramsy, is in his pen, his PA is wearing an bluetooth earpiece and clutching a clipboard (which is code for being very organised) and there are caterers, floral arrangements and conservative power brokers left, right and centre.

The only thing Jim can't control is his other daughter Daph (Rebel Wilson) who is going to be wearing a pantsuit, but that can't be helped because she's a lesbian and anyway the show must go on!

So while Jim's beautiful wife Barbara (Olivia Newton-John) is on stand-by with spare towels and Coffin Bay oysters, being the hostess with the mostest, David's groomsmen are a trifecta of nuff-nuffs that look set to derail the whole day. They range from the very nervous, malaise-prone Graeme (Kevin Bishop), to the very-gifted-at-coming-up-with-terrible-ideas Tom (Kris Marshall) and the recently-broken-up-with-and-consequently-very-very-depressed Luke (Tim Draxl). All three at terrific at making you feel uncomfortable with their increasingly poor choices regarding sheep, guns, drugs and speeches.

Needless to say things really start going pear shaped and more than one person is told to pull their head in.

But is it all a big mistake? Do David and Mia really even know each other? Was saying "I do" after 10 idyllic days on Tuvalu a bit OTT? Oh, I'm not going to spoil your fun.

A Few Best Men is a humorous, slapstick at times, cringe-y ride scripted well by Dean Craig, who really takes aim at the idea that weddings aren't for the happy couple as much as they are for parents looking to paint a pretty picture of a functional family.

Last year, TheVine's foremost Top Ten writer Anthony Morris astutely opined that, "In a way it’s a shame that Muriel's Wedding turned out to be one of the best and most-loved Australian comedy movies of all time, because it’s meant that no-one wants to go up against it. It’s a no win situation: even if you make a great wedding film, people will still say “Yeah, but it’s no Muriel’s Wedding”. So while Hollywood happily churns out wedding-themed hit after hit – did someone say Bridesmaids? The Wedding Planner? The Wedding Singer? Wedding Crashers? My Best Friends Wedding? My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Runaway Bride? – Australia just says “You’re terrible, Muriel” and goes off to make another comedy about wogs."

And he was spot on, it's no Muriel's Wedding. But what Craig and Elliott's comedy achieves is perhaps the first steps toward a different sort of wedding-related film in the Australian landscape: not one trying to compete with a cult classic, but one that's just looking to let its hair down and have a good time.

- Three stars


A Few Best Men opens nationally on Thursday, January 26.