''Polish Wedding'' is a 1998 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

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

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 16, 1998 and

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

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

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

community of

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of Hi ...

– the childhood home of director Theresa Connelly – at some time between the 1950s and 1970s. Virtually all 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. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

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

Synopsis

Jadzia is the

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general E ...

of a family of five children, four sons and a daughter. The household also includes the eldest son's wife – a Syrian-American whom Jadzia calls a Gypsy and who also works with Jadzia – and their child. Jadzia is (somewhat) happily married to Bolek, but is having a long-term relationship with Roman. Her daughter Hala becomes pregnant by a neighborhood cop and her family pressures him to marry her. The interior of the family's home was shot in a local house on Wyandotte Street in Hamtramck. The

St. Florian Church The Collegiate Church of St. Florian ( pl, Kościół św. Floriana w Krakowie) is a historic church in Kraków, Poland. It stands at the northern end of Jan Matejko, Matejko Square and the former centre of the mediaeval city of Kleparz, now a di ...

was used as a backdrop.

Cast

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influentia ...

as Hala * Jon Bradford as Sailor * Adam Trese as Russell Schuster *

Lena Olin Lena Maria Jonna Olin (; born 22 March 1955) is a Swedish actress. She has received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Mentored by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, she made her screen de ...

as Jadzia * Ramsey Krull as Kris *

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...

as Bolek * Seamus McNally as Heckler *

Daniel Lapaine Daniel Lapaine (born 15 June 1971) is an Australian stage, film and television actor, currently residing in London. He also works as a writer and director. Career Born in Sydney, New South Wales to an Italian father and an Australian mother ...

as Ziggy * Rachel and Rebecca Morrin as Ziggy and Sofie's Baby *

Mili Avital Mili Avital is an Israeli actress. She built an international career, starting in her native Israel, starring on stage, film and television. She won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991, moved to New York in 1993 to stu ...

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 i ...

as Roman *

as teenage girl (uncredited)

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 36 critics.

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 kin ...

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 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