There’s a whole lotta talkin’ going on in the indie “Helena From the Wedding,” written and directed by Joseph Infantolino.
A 30-something yuppie couple invites a group of friends to spend New Year’s weekend at their home in snowy upstate New York. The guests include the titular Helena, a woman younger than the others who somebody met at a wedding. Her arrival at the comfortable rural abode is welcomed by the men — but not necessarily the women.
Others include a lawyer who might be cheating on his pregnant wife and a guy who recently broke up with his girlfriend.
Except for some outside scenes, the movie takes place entirely in the house, where the folks sit around reading The Post, drinking wine and complaining about their lives. The ensemble acting and the hand-held cinematography are fine, and you might be reminded of “The Return of the Secaucus 7” or “The Big Chill.”
But the script for “Helena” doesn’t have the sarcastic bite of either of them — and none of its characters is especially interesting.
Trivia: The wife in the host couple is played by Melanie Lynskey, who was Kate Winslet’s teen partner in crime in Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures” in 1994. She’s better-known now as the creepy neighbor on TV’s “Two and a Half Men.”