'The Wedding Guest' dances between thriller, strange rom-com

“The Wedding Guest” - ★ ★ ½

No one going to see “The Wedding Guest” should expect a typical rom-com. The always-likable Dev Patel does star as a hunky guy who travels to a wedding party, but he's not been invited and he really ruins the wedding.

That's because he's brought along duct tape, fake passports, some guns and zip ties. His hope is to put the bride in his trunk.

Michael Winterbottom, the director of “24 Hour Party People” and “A Mighty Heart,” has channeled Quentin Tarantino for his latest, a sparse and often quiet love story set against some of the most crowded spots in Pakistan and India.

“The Wedding Guest” has actually got a thin story, but one saved by great acting and electric footage, from the rooftops in Amritsar to the crowded streets of Jaipur, as our heroine and hero travel through India, which we are told is “the perfect place to get lost.”

Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire” and “Lion”) plays a mysterious guy named Jay who goes to Pakistan from the United Kingdom to kidnap bride-to-be Samira (a riveting Radhika Apte).

But things don't go according to plan and the kidnapping plot quickly unravels, forcing Jay and Samira, now weirdly teammates, to scramble. Will they become something more than captive and mercenary? Will her family and the police catch up to them?

Winterbottom's script is maddeningly thin on back story or any revealing dialogue. We never learn why Jay is so proficient with weapons and SIM cards. We never learn much about Samira, either, or plumb the depths of her unhappiness.

Patel and Apte have a slow-burning chemistry. Their characters didn't exactly meet-cute - remember the zip ties and duct tape?

Winterbottom has proven very adept at road pictures, and you might be forgiven this time for believing he's less interested in Patel and Apte than in celebrating the colors, sounds and hustle of the streets of India.

So “The Wedding Guest” might not completely work as a thriller or a satisfying rom-com, but for anyone missing India or planning to go, it's a film worth getting lost in.

<b>Starring:</b> Dev Patel, Radhika Apte

<b>Directed by:</b> Michael Winterbottom

<b>Other:</b> An IFC Films release. In limited release. Rated R for language, violence and brief nudity. 94 minutes