Review: 'Once I Was Engaged' finds the universal humor in pre-wedding craziness, with a hint of Latter-day Saint culture

The 2015 movie “Once I Was a Beehive” holds the distinction of being one of the few Latter-day Saint-themed movies that was as much about telling a good story as it was about promoting the faith — and it’s a credit to writer-director Maclain Nelson that he can maintain a similar balance in the new sequel, “Once I Was Engaged.”

The first film, for those who don’t remember, was a fond and funny look at the goofy traditions and sisterly bonding at a Latter-day Saint girls’ summer camp. The sequel follows one of those teen campers, Bree Carrington (Clare Niederpruem), and her mother, Carrie (Lisa Valentine Clark) — the camp’s hyper-organized activities coordinator — as Bree moves to the next chapter of her life.

Bree’s plan is to finish college at Brigham Young University-Hawaii — where she has discovered a love for and possible career in marine biology — and go on a mission for her church. The same day she files her papers for her mission, something surprising happens: Her boyfriend, Thys (Tanner Gillman), proposes to her in an embarrassingly public way, and Bree answers “of course.”

This sudden engagement leaves Bree feeling stressed, but it really freaks out Carrie — who learns of the proposal when a video of the event goes viral. Carrie, with husband Curt (Bart Johnson) in tow, flies to Hawaii to set her daughter straight. Eventually, though, Carrie is charmed by Thys and impressed by his rich parents, so she approves of the engagement. When Carrie learns that Thys’ family wants to have the wedding in two months, the freaking out starts anew back home in Utah.

Nelson treads familiar territory here as he concocts a light-hearted variation of “Father of the Bride” or “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with a dusting of Latter-day Saint culture. 

Of course, Carrie has to figure out how to make her ward’s “cultural hall” into an elegant reception room, hiding the basketball hoops in the process. And there’s the culture shock when Bree’s bachelorette party, thrown by her former campmates, moves from bowling and frozen yogurt to getting hit on in a dance club. “Who goes to a club for their bachelorette party?” Bree asks her one non-LDS friend, Lane (Paris Warner), who replies, “Literally everyone.”

There are several unforced moments of humor, and most of them — like the scene where mother and daughter romp through a Target with scanner guns for Bree’s bridal registry — capitalize on Clark’s sharp comedic skills and Niederpruem’s bubbly charm. (Niederpruem, who’s married to Nelson in real life, is a gifted filmmaker in her own right, with a slew of Hallmark Channel rom-coms and the 2018 modern-dress “Little Women” on her directing resumé).

“Once I Was Engaged” doesn’t have the same sense of discovery — of lifting the curtain on a secret cultural rite — that “Beehive” did. Except for the temple ceremony (which outsiders are barred from  experiencing, and this movie doesn’t touch), there’s not a lot of difference between a Latter-day Saint bride’s wedding prep and what brides of other faiths go through, which may be why this movie’s humor and heart feel so relatable.

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‘Once I Was Engaged’

★★★

Opening Wednesday, July 21, in theaters across Utah; opens in Idaho, Arizona and beyond in the weeks to come. Not rated, but probably PG for mild thematic elements. Running time: 107 minutes.