Review by John P. Harvey.
Some time after splitting up from their respective romantic partners, Ben (Glen Powell) and Bea (Sydney Sweeney) are on the cusp of romantic involvement with each other when a misunderstanding intervenes. Their feelings having turned to mutual loathing, neither expects to see the other again. But a short two years later they meet as guests at the wedding of Ben’s friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) and Bea’s sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) in far-off Australia.
Ben’s ex-girlfriend, Margaret (Charlee Fraser), is also there for the wedding, with her present partner, Beau (played by Joe Davidson in a caricature of the true Aussie surfer). As Bea sees it, Ben may not be quite over Margaret.
At the same time, Bea learns that her ex-boyfriend too, Jonathan (Darren Barnet), has arrived for the wedding, courtesy of her parents, in the latest salvo of their campaign to reunite them.
So Bea sells Ben on the idea of pretending to the entire wedding party that she and Ben are a couple. It will throw both her ex-boyfriend off and her parents off her scent and, she argues, lead Ben’s ex-girlfriend to pursue him. And the deal is done.
Of course, this tale is a genuine romantic comedy, so you know that it will follow a course predictable in its broad outlines, with misunderstandings and mishaps and, by its end, a man and a woman falling in love. Nonetheless, with Bryan Brown adding a wry touch as father of one of the brides, its unexpected particulars pepper it with plenty of delightful surprises before true love arrives via inventive means.