Dev Patel is a chameleon on the run in this suspenseful new film out now.
Written and directed by Michael Winterbottom, The Wedding Guest stars Dev Patel, Radhike Apte, and Jim Sarbh. Viewers are introduced to the protagonist, Jay (Dev Patel), who takes on many names throughout the course of the film, as he journeys to Pakistan. With no clear context, viewers are shown Jay buying duct tape, renting cars, purchasing guns, getting a passport etc, prepping for what clearly seems like an abduction or robbery of some sort. Once Jay reaches his destination, a small village in Pakistan, he tells the townspeople that he’s looking for a girl named Samira (Radhike Apte), whose wedding he has traveled a great distance to attend. The night before the wedding, Jay infiltrates Samira’s house, finds her and succeeds in kidnapping her, but not before killing a security guard and alerting the household as he escapes.
One would think that after Jay reveals why he’s kidnapped Samira, that the shroud of mystery surrounding the plot would disappear, or at least explain why such great lengths needed to be taken, but no such luck. Jay gives his cooperative hostage two options, go back to Pakistan and get married or go to “Deepesh,” the man who’s hired Jay to kidnap and bring Samira to him. The only setback is that if Samira chooses Deepesh, “they will always be on the run,” indefinitely. Samira makes it clear she doesn’t want to return to the arranged marriage set up by her family and chooses Deepesh, the closest thing to what feels like freedom to her. The more context we’re given as to why Samira is kidnapped and why her parents would never accept Deepesh, the more the viewer is left wondering if a kidnapping is even necessary? The lack of chemistry between the callous Deepesh and protagonist Samira further weakens the premise of the plot and begs the question why was she even kidnapped? The faux Bonnie and Clyde relationship that forms between Samira and Jay feels just as superficial and forced as the kidnapping itself. While Dev and Radhike portray their characters beautifully, it isn’t enough to support the ever-thinning plot.