''Polish Wedding'' is a 1998 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by Theresa Connelly. It was screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 16, 1998 and

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

on February 12. It was released in the U.S. on July 17. It takes place within the then-

Polish American Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

community of

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ; ; ; ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Hamtramck is located roughly north of downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 census, the city had a po ...

(the childhood home of director Theresa Connelly) at some time between the 1950s and 1970s. The interior of the family's home was shot in a local house on Wyandotte Street in Hamtramck. The St. Florian Church was used as a backdrop. Virtually all of the characters are Polish Americans, though the actors playing them are mostly of other ethnic origins.

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. List of Kristen Bell performances, Her work includes both film and television, and List of awards and nominations received by Kristen Bell, h ...

appears in an uncredited role, making this her film debut.

Plot

Jadzia is the

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...

of a family of five children, four sons and a daughter. The household also includes eldest son Ziggy's Syrian-American wife Sofie, who works with Jadzia as a cleaner, and Ziggy and Sofie's baby. Jadzia is somewhat-happily married to Bolek, a baker whom she married after she got pregnant at 15, but she has also been having a long-term secret relationship with Roman. Her sole daughter Hala is a high-school dropout, so Jadzia expects her to help around the house. The flirtatious Hala catches the eye of neighborhood police officer Russell Schuster, who knows her middle brothers, Kaz and Witek. There is a mutual attraction and they have sex one night, though Russell has second thoughts. At church on Sunday, Russell has difficulty keeping his eyes off Hala. After the service, they kiss on the church steps. When Jadzia arrives home late, she finds her key doesn't work in the back door. Starting to sneak in through a basement window she bumps into Hala, who's sneaking out. Before Jadzia can hit her, Hala blurts out to not hurt her baby. The next day, Hala is at their Catholic church, as the priest had chosen her for a special activity, because of her supposed purity. Jadzia confronts her, so she leaves. Jadzia and Sofie make Hala put on Sofie's wedding dress to pressure Russell into marrying her. She gets him to take her out on his motorcycle and they have sex again, but he refuses to marry her. When Hala sneaks in through the basement window, Bolek sees and follows close behind. They have cigs with Hala's youngest brother Kris, then Bolek goes out the window, sees Jadzia, and follows her. She goes to Roman's, and Bolek is devastated to see her with him. After they make love, Roman surprises Jadzia with two tickets to Paris, wanting the two of them to run away together. She refuses because of her family responsibilities, and when he asks her why she's with him, she leaves. Marching home at dawn, she rallies her sons to go with her to the Schusters' and demand that Russell take responsibility for impregnating Hala. Kris gets Bolek to help, but he quickly directs his anger from Russell towards Jadzia. Bolek chases Jadzia home, almost hits her, then locks the door behind him. That night they make up by making love. In the morning, the whole family is in the kitchen when Jadzia and Bolek seemingly have a fight, but Hala finds them happily together in the pantry. The next day, at the Polish-American Catholic church ceremony, a youth shouts out to jeer that Hala is hardly an example of virginal purity as she's single and pregnant. The priest is about to strike her when Jadzia stops him. One year later, Hala and Russell are at her Polish family home, together happily with their baby.

Cast

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. Prolific in film and television since her teens, she is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, ''Time (magazine), Time'' named he ...

as Hala * Jon Bradford as Sailor * Adam Trese as Russell Schuster * Lena Olin as Jadzia * Ramsey Krull as Kris *

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy L ...

as Bolek * Seamus McNally as Heckler * Daniel Lapaine as Ziggy * Rachel and Rebecca Morrin as Ziggy's and Sofie's Baby * Mili Avital as Sofie * Steven Petrarca as Witek * Brian Hoyt as Kaz * Christina Romana Lypeckyj as Kasia * Peter Carey as Piotrus *

Rade Šerbedžija Rade Šerbedžija ( sr-Cyrl, Раде Шербеџија, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors ...

as Roman *

as a teenage girl (uncredited)

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 36 critics. The website's critics consensus reads, "An awkward mix of drama and comedy lacks any genuine emotion." Emanuel Levy of ''Variety'' said that the film was "a disjointedly messy movie that plods along until it reaches its predestined conclusion."

Home media

The region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

was released March 16, 1999.

References

External links

* *
"The Big Lebowski Goes To The Polish Wedding: Polish Americans – Hollywood Style", review by John J. Bukowczyk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polish Wedding 1998 films 1998 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films American independent films 1990s English-language films Teenage pregnancy in film Films about weddings in the United States Films produced by Tom Rosenberg Films scored by Luis Bacalov Films set in Michigan Films shot in Michigan Fox Searchlight Pictures films Lakeshore Entertainment films Polish-American culture in Metro Detroit 1998 independent films 1990s American films Films about Polish-American culture English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films