Robert Altman makes two kinds of movies, one intimate, stark, psychological, and slow moving ("Images", "Fool For Love"), the other crowded, colorful, ebullient, and lively ("M*A*S*H", "H.E.A.L.T.H"). Most of his films are blends. "A Wedding" is about three-quarters to the type two. He's quite a cynic, so that aspect is always present. He gives the actors plenty of room to create their own characters, even allowing them to write their own dialogue, which is appropriate since he cares more about behavior than plot. Sometimes this approach works better than others. This time it works great.
There are over twenty active characters and at least a half a dozen plot lines.The film takes place mostly in one setting, during a wedding reception at a mansion. Lillian Gish's character dies at the beginning, but her body stays through the whole movie. Howard Duff is a proudly alcoholic doctor gladly willing to shoot up junkie mother-of-the-groom Nina Van Pallandt. Mother-of-the-bride Carol Burnett has adulterous feelings toward uncle-of-the-groom Pat McCormack. Father-of-the-groom Vittorio Gassman has endured a twenty-five year loveless marriage. Groom Desi Arnaz Jr. might be having a homosexual tryst on his wedding day, and nearly mute sister-of-the-bride Mia Farrow has had sex with a whole military academy. Two people die in a terrible automobile accident. Yet this is a very funny comedy. Among Altman's movies, it's probably closest in structure to "Nashville", and while the tone is quite lighter here, the characters feel a lot more real to me than in his earlier, more acclaimed film.
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