All Rise...

Judge David Johnson should send in that clip from his wedding when Iranian terrorists commandeered the sanctuary and exchanged gunfire with the ushers. Funny stuff.

The Charge

This is bliss?

The Case

Shout! Factory continues the march of AFV releases with this bare-bones presentation of 80 minutes worth of groomsmen with mullets, fainting, and pie fights. Love and Marriage includes two full-length AFV shows, "Matrimony Mania," which originally aired in 2001, and the "Season 12 $100,000 Episode" from 2002.

It's "Matrimony Mania" that earns the Love and Marriage designation of this collection, since the second episode has nothing to do with weddings. So, basically, if you're looking for some primo wedding-day snafus, you've got just over 40 minutes to get your fill. Anything else wedding-related that you find on the $100,000 episode is just gravy.

How is "Matrimony Mania"? Funny, I guess. If you're dying for some AFV footage of botched ceremonies, precocious ring-bearers, cake melees, flubbed lines, bridesmaid friskiness, stage damage, tone-deaf organ players (that clip was pretty funny, actually), and the omnipresent fainting spells, this episode should serve you well.

Those fainting spells, man, they're the "crotch shots" of the matrimonial videos. They're plentiful, people look stupid when it happens to them, and it's always worth a cheap laugh. There's nothing quite like seeing someone's precious memories besmirched by the hapless dork who can't maintain consciousness and tumbles into the first row of pews. Out of these at-the-altar meltdowns, the clear-cut winner is the gentleman who picked his wedding day to be zapped by the Holy Spirit, leading to an awkward quasi-Transfiguration on the stage.

The "Season 12 $100,000 Episode" is your boilerplate best-of collection for that particular season, culminating in a family, utterly undeserving of the honor, snagging a hundred grand. Nothing really memorable stands out, and is the typical mixed bag of decently funny clips of morons sliding down snow-covered mountains on their face or falling off of garages and "Clip #36 of Cute Kitty Dancing #36."

Tom Bergeron hosts both shows, and, as usual, he does a good job, thankfully sparing us from the bevy of mind-gouging voice-work that Bob Saget forced on us in AFV's golden years. His deadpan style is much better-suited to the clips and, really, how many wordplay jokes can you make about testicles?

If you can't get enough AFV or desperately want to see people humiliated at their wedding more than you were, then pick up this set by all means. Don't expect anything other than the two shows, though—this is as barren a set as you'll find.

Give us your feedback!

Did we give America's Funniest Home Videos: Love And Marriage a fair trial? yes / no

What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits.

Share This Review

Follow DVD Verdict

Other Reviews You Might Enjoy

• Motherhood
• Samantha Who? The Complete Second Season
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
• Airplane II: The Sequel