Pat Dwyer and Stephen Mosher met when they were both college students at the hometown University of North Texas back in 1985. It was, they both fervently claim, a case of love at first sight, and they have rarely been apart since then. And now 25 years later and living in New York, they want to celebrate this milestone Anniversary by getting married. One ‘small’ snag though, the year is 2010 and same-sex marriage in their home State is illegal.The men hit on the idea of therefore getting married in all seven States that recognize gay marriage as a means to give their union as much security it could possible have, and also as a personal/political statement about the whole inequality of the situation. As the fact that their seven different weddings gave them no additional legal safeguards at all than just one, it meant that the whole exercise was essentially about celebrating their marriage in the most public way possible.
Pat is an actor, and Stephen a photographer, but sadly we learn little about their lives beyond the obvious fact that they so clearly love each other very much. Both extremely articulate and hopeless romantics, they make a wonderfully adorable couple, albeit highly emotional and they are the sole reason that this odd ‘wedding tour’ from State to State and from ceremony to ceremony is such a sheer joy. The opening clips when they are in a car so behind schedule rushing to get Marriage Licences and they argue so much, you worry at first that they may never make it, until you realize, this is EXACTLY how married couples behave.
They share their moments of kindness with strangers who are so keen to embrace their journey, and the heartbreak of negotiating acceptance from their families. They choose close friends to be the different officiants at each of the ‘services’, from a tree hugger spiritualist in Iowa, to a Jewish wedding in Massachusetts (although neither of the grooms are of the ‘faith’). What is meant to be the final service is on their actual anniversary and is conducted on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington DC with the blessing of Stephen’s mother who has flown in from Texas, albeit without her husband.
The movie has now been released on DVD and VOD and comes at perfect time now that the Supreme Court has blown DOMA out of the water, and it reminds us although we have so much to celebrate, same sex marriages, like theirs is still not recognised by the majority of most of the States in our country.
My favorite wedding of theirs took place on one of the covered bridges in New Hampshire in the middle of winter, and when Stephen Moser quoted e.e. cummings to his new husband, I was a complete goner too.
This is one of those wee joyous movies where my cinefile’s objectivity is slightly set aside, and I simply enjoy and recognize what a wonderful way this is to mark this important time in our history. Almost before they wrapped the film up, NY finally came on board, so the last ‘wedding’ they have is on Coney Island, in their home State. And in the future as more States give us our equality, they plan to keep the tour going. Really? They are already running out of ring fingers!
There is some unintentional levity to the whole movie with the ex Star Trekker George Takei’s narration …. for some unknown reason, he sounds like he thinks he is impersonating the sonorous voice of God, and it just sounds too funny for words.
