History Film / DestinationWedding

* CoitusEnsues: Played with and commented on in-universe. Frank and Lindsay decide to have sex, without protection, on a hillside in broad daylight, during a wedding, despite not liking each other very much. Why? "It couldn't possibly make this situation worse."

* PlaneAwfulFlight: After bitter, judgemental Lindsay and Frank snipe at each other while boarding, they find out that they're next to each other in the back of the extremely tiny airplane which ricochets with every turbulence. Naturally, this doesn't help their dislike of each other.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Frank is about as mean and cynical as they come, but he does point out the ridiculousness of the destination wedding, the pointless nature of privileged people who are in no immediate danger getting to complain about their problems, and the hypocrisy of dating and existence in general. It's both frighteningly nihilistic and yet accurate.

* DysfunctionalFamily: Frank's. His father left his mother and later shot him, said mother went on to marry another man and have Keith, the man later left her for an older woman.

* EvilMatriarch: We're led to believe Frank's mother is pretty awful.

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Frank and Lindsay. Pretty much every conversation with them is just one barbed comment after another.

* TakeThat: The entire film is basically one wonderful middle finger to almost all the common stereotypes associated with a romantic-comedy. It breaks down the overused elements and does an excellent criticism of why they don't work, along with adding a dose of reality to how certain people can become deeply jaded as they reach middleage.

* BiTheWay: The officiant at the wedding is revealed to have slept with both the bride and the groom and and the three of them are seen dancing suggestively during the reception.

* InformedAttribute: Since only Frank and Lindsay have speaking lines, none of Frank and Lindsay's criticisms and complaints about the married couple and their associates are proven, with only implications towards them at most being shown[[note]]For example, the mother Frank attests to being an EvilMatriarch actually does look like an evil old bat, no one is dancing on the first night despite the obnoxious hip-hop playing, and the wedding itself is white-tie, expensive, and inconvenient[[/note]]. It's not outright stated how much is truth and how much is their resentment, misanthropy, and judgement.

* BetterThanABareBulp: Frank and Lindsay's conversations border on the metatextual as they cover and mock tropes that would be played straight in a more typical romantic comedy.
* BiTheWay: The officiant at the wedding is revealed to have slept with both the bride and the groom and and the three of them are seen dancing suggestively during the recption.

* StealthParody: It's quite obvious the film is making fun of stereotypical romantic-comedies, but if the way the story and plot are formed adhere to the usual arc of a romantic comedy: character introductions, characters hate each other, characters have a bonding moment, characters hook up, characters break up, and then characters reconsider and reunite.

* InformedAttribute: Since only Frank and Lindsay have speaking lines, none of Frank and Lindsay's criticisms and complaints about the married couple and their associates are proven; it's hard to tell how much is truth and how much is their misanthropy and judgement.
** There are small context clues based on facial expressions (for instance, the monstrous mother character really does look like an evil old bat) and surroundings of the wedding itself that imply the family is full of rich, pampered, pretentious snobs, such as the party on the first night having obnoxious hip-hop playing although it appears to be a white-tie affair, and absolutely no one is dancing, and most of them are middleaged anyway and wouldn't be dancing to that music in the first place. Plus, as both Frank and Lindsay state, the wedding itself truly does appear to be expensive, inconvenient, and moronically sappy. Besides, only a petty person would invite their ex to the wedding, since it can only be interpreted as a gesture of spite.

* StealthParody: It's quite obvious the film is making fun of stereotypical romantic-comedies, but if you pay attention, the way the story and plot are formed actually does adhere to the usual arc of a romantic comedy: character introductions, characters hate each other, characters have a bonding moment, characters hook up, characters break up, and then characters reconsider and reunite. It's honestly pretty brilliant.

* ChekovsSkill: Frank's incredibly obnoxious throat-ear-clearing noises, of all things.

** There are small context clues based on facial expressions (for instance, the monstrous mother character really does look like an evil old bat) and surroundings of the wedding itself that imply the family is full of rich, pampered, pretentious snobs, such as the party on the first night having obnoxious hip-hop playing although it appears to be a white-tie affair, and absolutely no one is dancing, and most of them are middleaged anyway and wouldn't be dancing to that music in the first place. Plus, as both Frank and Lindsay state, the wedding itself truly does appear to be expensive, inconvenient, and moronically sappy.

* MinimalistCast: Frank and Lindsay are the only characters who have speaking lines.

Frank (Reeves) and Lindsay (Ryder) are two socially maladjusted misanthropes who get off on the wrong foot at the airport. Shortly after, they realize that they're both reluctant attendees at the same destination wedding in San Luis Obispo, California. Mostly left to their own devices during the activities, the cynical Frank (the groom's estranged half-brother) and the romantic Lindsay (the groom's ex-fiancee) find themselves gravitating towards each other.

* GladToBeAliveSex: Lindsay and Frank have sex on a hill after surviving an encounter with a mountain lion.