No one going to see "The Wedding Guest" should expect a typical rom-com. The always-likable Dev Patel does star in it as a hunky guy who travels to a wedding party but he's not been invited and he really ruins the wedding.
That's because he's brought along not a tasteful 10-piece bakeware set as a gift for the happy couple but duct tape, fake passports, some guns and zip ties. His hope is to put the bride in his trunk.
Michael Winterbottom, the director of "24 Hour Party People" and "A Mighty Heart," has channeled Quentin Tarantino for his latest, a sparse and often quiet love story set against some of the most crowded spots in Pakistan and India.
This image released by IFC Films shows Dev Patel in a scene from "The Wedding Guest." (Ganesh PatilIFC Films via AP)
The poster for the film is a little misleading, with Patel in full menacing mode beside an ominous looking fire (look close: Is that a body?). There is violence onscreen, but this is not "Reservoir Dogs." The trailer also pumps up the thriller aspect of the film but it's much slower than that.
"The Wedding Guest " has actually got a thin story, but one saved by great acting and electric footage, from the rooftops in Amritsar to the crowded streets of Jaipur, as our heroine and hero travel through India, which we are told is "the perfect place to get lost."
Patel ("Slumdog Millionaire" and "Lion") plays a mysterious guy named Jay who goes to Pakistan from the United Kingdom to kidnap bride-to-be Samira (a riveting Radhika Apte).
This image released by IFC Films shows Dev Patel in a scene from "The Wedding Guest." (Ganesh PatilIFC Films via AP)
But things don't go according to plan and the kidnapping plot quickly unravels, forcing Jay and Samira, now weirdly teammates, to scramble. Will they become something more than captive and mercenary? Will her family and the police catch up to them?
Winterbottom's script is maddeningly thin on backstory or any revealing dialogue. We never learn why Jay is so proficient with weapons and SIM cards or what he thinks about really anything. We never learn much about Samira, either, or plumb the depths of her unhappiness.
Winterbottom seems to want us to see them just as they are now, rushing from Mumbai to Delhi to Goa, taking cars, trains, mopeds and buses. Many scenes are silent or contain just a few words. ("We have to go," is barked multiple times.) It is a film that requires careful watching to try to unlock the body language and determine if there is a double-cross or a romance brewing.
Patel and Apte have a slow-burning chemistry. Their characters didn't exactly meet-cute — remember the zip ties and duct tape? — and rushing from hotel room to bus stations isn't exactly conducive to emotional connection. Above all, they are smooth, cool, resourceful and unruffled.
Winterbottom has proven very adept at road pictures — "The Trip," ''The Trip to Italy," ''The Trip to Spain" and "On the Road" — and you might be forgiven this time for believing he's less interested in Patel and Apte than in celebrating the colors, sounds and hustle of the streets of India. The soundtrack includes Desi tunes by DJ Vips, DJ Raj and DJ Harpz.
So "The Wedding Guest" might not completely work as a thriller or a satisfying rom-com, but for anyone missing India or planning to go, it's a film worth getting lost in.
"The Wedding Guest," an IFC Films release, is rated R for "language, some violence and brief nudity." Running time: 94 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Online: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BO0BDQEslwQ
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran's ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic's rural provinces, with at least seven people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said.
The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, two on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in four cities, largely home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
The most-intense violence appeared to strike Azna, a city in Iran's Lorestan province, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Tehran. There, online videos purported to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!”
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported three people had been killed. Other media, including pro-reform outlets, cited Fars for the report while state-run media did not fully acknowledge the violence there or elsewhere. It wasn't clear why there wasn't more reporting over the unrest, but journalists had faced arrest over their reporting in 2022.
In Lordegan, a city in Iran's Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, online videos showed demonstrators gathered on a street, with the sound of gunfire in the background. The footage matched known features of Lordegan, some 470 kilometers (290 miles) south of Tehran.
Fars, citing an anonymous official, said two people had been killed during the protests Thursday.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said two people had been killed there, identifying the dead as demonstrators. It also shared a still image of what appeared to be an Iranian police officer, wearing body armor and wielding a shotgun.
In 2019, the area around Lordegan saw widespread protests and demonstrators reportedly damaged government buildings after a report said people there had been infected with HIV by contaminated needles used at a local health care clinic.
In Fuladshahr in Iran's Isfahan province, state media reported on the death of a man there Thursday that activist groups attributed to the police opening fire on demonstrators.
A separate demonstration Wednesday night reportedly led to the 21-year-old volunteer in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's Basij force.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported on the Guard member’s death but did not elaborate. An Iranian news agency called the Student News Network, which is believed to be close to the Basij, directly blamed demonstrators for the Guard member's death, citing comments from Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Lorestan province.
The Guard member “was martyred ... at the hands of rioters during protests in this city in defense of public order,” he reportedly said. Another 13 Basij members and police officers suffered injuries, he added.
“The protests that have occurred are due to economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations, and are an expression of livelihood concerns," Pourali said. "The voices of citizens must be heard carefully and tactfully, but people must not allow their demands to be strained by profit-seeking individuals.”
The protests took place in the city of Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran. Local prosecutor Kazem Nazari said 20 people had been arrested after the protests and that calm had returned to the city, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported.
Iran's civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran's rial currency has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials.
Meanwhile, state television separately reported on the arrests of seven people, including five it described as monarchists and two others it said had linked to European-based groups. State TV also said another operation saw security forces confiscate 100 smuggled pistols, without elaborating.
Iran's theocracy had declared Wednesday a public holiday across much of the country, citing cold weather, likely as a bid to get people out of the capital for a long weekend. The Iranian weekend is Thursday and Friday, while Saturday marks Imam Ali's birthday, another holiday for many.
The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran's theocracy as well. The country's leaders are still reeling after Israel launched a 12-day war against the country in June. The U.S. also bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the war.
Iran has said it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.
A woman chants slogans as she holds up a poster of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman shows a portrait of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, on her smartphone during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Women wave national flags as they hold up posters of the late commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
