Action Dark Comedy / Movie

Volyn Wedding: The Groom's Room

Logline

A wedding story that everyone wanted except the couple themselves, and the night before the ceremony, which turned into a surreal quest involving kidnapping, corrupt border guards, and Gypsy-Polish-Belarusian drug dealers.

Main Idea

This is a feature-length comedy-drama with elements of black satire and absurdity, set in modern Volyn. The story follows two semi-successful natives of the Ukrainian provinces who return home to celebrate their wedding according to classic traditions. Although the main characters have long moved on from these archaic customs, they agree to it for their families, because sometimes old traditions are stronger than common sense.

The main characters are the groom and the bride, as well as their friends: the best man, the maid of honor, and a “plus-one” for each of them. A separate intrigue exists between these two pairs, which is revealed throughout the plot.

The best man and the maid of honor haven't met yet, but their personalities are similar: both are shortsighted, impulsive, and hysterical, yet at the same time sweet and kind. This causes them to constantly get into squabbles — both with each other and together against everyone else. Their "plus-ones" are the complete opposite of their partners, and they begin to flirt with each other behind their friends' backs.

Plot

Everything begins in the city, where the characters are bustling about, taking care of last-minute tasks before heading to the Holy Volyn — the wedding location.

Phone conversations reveal the backstory: the proposal has been made, the wedding has been agreed upon with the relatives. Meanwhile, the best man constantly tries to get an online ordination to officiate the wedding. Although he is an atheist, he's convinced that baptizing friends is almost the same as marrying them, so he can officiate the ceremony himself.

Everyone arrives at the wedding location separately by car. The introduction happens there. Later, on the night before the wedding, the bachelor and bachelorette parties begin, mixing city and local traditions. They decide to split up: the men go to their party, and the women go to theirs.

In a classic trope, the men’s night gets out of control: the first toast, a "boom," and a black screen. The men wake up in cages in an unknown place, and their peace is disturbed by a mix of Polish, Belarusian, and Gypsy languages, which instantly brings them to their senses but leaves them in shocking confusion.

A flashback takes us to the bachelorette party: the women and their local friends decide to visit a nightclub. There, they expertly fend off the local rednecks with a direct blow to the throat. They get bored and decide to find the guys to stir up some trouble.

They find out the men have disappeared and start their own comedic-detective investigation, turning their nocturnal drive through villages and fields into a drunken quest. All clues lead them to some sort of Gypsy-drug camp on the triple border of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus, where even border guards are involved.

The women develop a "Charlie's Angels" style rescue plan and burst into the camp. Of course, everything goes wrong, turning into pure improvisation and chaos. In the commotion, they find and free the guys. Thanks to the "perfect" plan, everything accidentally catches fire, causing a domino effect. The characters escape like in a classic action movie, with flashes and explosions behind them, all covered in mud, beaten up, but alive — at least physically.

Barely fitting into the car, the characters, completely mind-fucked by what happened, drive to the wedding in silence. Some Polish-Belarusian music plays on the radio, enhancing the atmosphere of booze and a beautiful sunrise on the road. They stop at a gas station, where, hungry, they greedily eat to the same strange music, nodding their heads, processing all the exciting events.

In the finale, beaten up but dressed up, they arrive at the wedding. Everything goes well, everyone is happy. In the end, when everyone gets together, the maid of honor's "plus-one" says: "Turns out, I was filming everything on video. Want to watch? It's a fucking mess..."

Then, scenes are shown of how the guys got into this drug predicament, similar to the ending of “The Hangover”.

Inspiration

Films

Characters

The impulsiveness of the best man and maid of honor is inspired by the characters from the series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The personalities of the "plus-ones" are the complete opposite of their partners, and are generally similar to the character of Sarah in the film Game Night

Details

Under Construction …

The author is looking for resources and time to bring these ideas to life. If you know where or how to get support — let me know!