Reel Advice: Identity crises

In theaters

Almost no one is who or what they say they are in the well-meaning, but flawed, indie Arthur Newman (Cinedigm/Vertebra). With three thousand dollars cash, former FedEx floor manager and once-promising golfer Wallace (Colin Firth) buys a new identity as Arthur Newman. Before going to a Florida beach to fake his own death, he says goodbye to mousy girlfriend Mina (Anne Heche) and indifferent 13 year old son Kevin (Lucas Hedges).

Just as he's about to start anew, heading for Terra Haute, Indiana, to follow-up on a potential job lead as a country club golf pro, he crosses paths with the troubled Mike (Emily Blunt). Arthur witnesses Mike's arrest for car theft after he checks into a motel. When she shows up at the motel pool, strung out on cough syrup, Arthur brings her to a hospital emergency room and from there on they are inextricably linked.

The pair gets better acquainted over the course of their journey. Mike discovers Arthur's true identity. Arthur discovers that Mike (not her real name) is really Charlotte, Mike's identical twin sister. Mike, as it turns out, is in a psych ward in North Carolina. Proceeding with caution, they begin a sexual relationship. They also perpetrate a string of home invasions in which they briefly become the people whose homes they occupy.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, Mina and Kevin become better acquainted. They share memories and thoughts of Wallace, none of which are particularly flattering, as they come to terms with the fact that he might be gone for good. As Mina and Kevin learn from each other, so do Arthur and Mike, making this a movie that is as much about identity as it is about what others can teach us. Unfortunately, no one is at their best here – not Firth, not Blunt. Surprisingly, it's Heche, whose understated performance is the most compelling, who makes the best impression.

Confused identities also play a large role in the adult-oriented multi-character comedy The Big Wedding (Lionsgate). Based on the minor 2006 French film Mon frère se marie, Justin Zackham's imperfect Hollywood adaptation has its charms, mainly due to the presence of Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon.

The Griffins, a dysfunctional Connecticut clan, gather at the family abode for a wedding. Mom Ellie (Keaton) and dad Don (Robert DeNiro, who was so good in Silver Linings Playbook, but has been reduced to doing his Fockers comedy shtick here) have been divorced for a number of years. Ellie's former best friend Bebe (Sarandon), the woman responsible for breaking up the marriage, has been living with Don following the divorce. Don and Bebe never married but are essentially husband and wife minus the legal documentation.

Ellie's return to the old homestead gets off to an awkward start when she interrupts the Viagra-fueled Don and Bebe mid-cunnilingus. After apologies are exchanged, the adults agree to act like grown-ups for the sake of the kids. Those kids, however, have their own issues. Lawyer Lyla's (a shrewish Katherine Heigl) marriage has crumbled under the weight of her inability to conceive. But that doesn't stop her from being nauseous and fainting (red herring!) at the sight of newborns at the hospital where her younger brother, the virginal obstetrician Jared (Topher Grace still working his boyish charisma) works.

But it's younger adopted brother Alejandro (Ben Barnes) who has it the worst. Marrying into the staunch (and deeply racist) Catholic family of Missy (the dreadful as ever Amanda Seyfried), Alejandro suffers through a ritual grilling by family priest Fr. Moinighan (Robin Williams in a déjà vu moment). He is constantly disrespected by Missy's ignorant parental units Muffin (Christine Ebersole) and Barry (David Rasche). However, it's the realization that his conservative and religious birth mother Madonna (Patricia Rae) and his nubile sister Nuria (Ana Ayora), arriving shortly from Colombia, will also be attending the wedding. It seems that Alejandro neglected to mention Ellie and Don's divorce to Madonna.

In order to maintain the charade, Ellie and Don agree to act as husband and wife over the course of the wedding. Naturally, this leaves Bebe out in the cold. Of course, this complicates matters as she is catering the big wedding.

One by one, the film's various set-ups are revealed. Can you guess why Lyla is vomiting (hint: it's not because she saw an advance screening of The Big Wedding)? Will Jared be able to maintain his virginity while in the vicinity of Nuria? Is Don's inability to control his libido a symptom of something larger among the circle of parents? Could Alejandro possibly have misjudged his birth mother's nature? And so it goes. Is Don's unnecessary homophobic Oscar Wilde remark meant to be smoothed over by the revelation of a character's bisexuality? If so, it fails in that regard. Meanwhile, it's still illegal for same sex couples to marry in more than 40 states.