Wearing a goofy suit and a mustache that doesn't suit him, Sam Davis (Michael Angarano) is on a mission: to thwart the wedding of the woman he idolizes - and with whom he once had a soulful fling. And so the self-published twentysomething children's book writer (i.e., total slacker) grabs his mopey sidekick, Marshall (Reece Thompson), drives off from Brooklyn to the tony reaches of Long Island, and proceeds to behave as if he's in a Wes Anderson movie.
Ceremony, a twitchy exercise in smart-aleck rejoinders, martini-infused drollery, and melancholy yuks set to a patchy set of retro-pop, comes by way of Max Winkler (son of Henry), making his feature-directing debut. The offbeat comedy is not entirely devoid of charm, but its derivativeness is almost embarrassing. It's as if Rushmore's Max Fischer received a postcard from Miss Cross announcing her imminent betrothal, and so hied off to the weekend fete, which he found populated by boozing siblings, neo-boho Brits, African explorers, and depressive eccentrics whose names must certainly end in Tenenbaum and Whitman.
