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Directed By
David Dobkin
Written By:
Steve Faber, Bob Fisher
Cast:
Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Jane Seymour, Ellen Albertini Dow, Keir O'Donnell, Bradley Cooper, Ron Canada, Henry Gibson, Dwight Yoakam, Rebecca De Mornay, David Conrad, Jennifer Alden, Geoff Stults, Lou Cutell, Frank Ray Perilli, Chao Li Chi, Diora Baird, Jennifer Massey, Larry Joe Campbell, Summer Altice, Maria Arcé, Jed Bernard, James Carville, Arnold Chun, Will Ferrell, John McCain, Brad Newman, Richard Riehle, Steve J. Termath, John H. Tobin, Juting Tsang, Schuster Vance, Kelsey Wedeen, Michelle Woods
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Wedding Crashers (2005)
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Movie Review by Corey 
July 15th, 2005
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I imagine that the greatest non-fiscal accomplishment comedic filmmakers can hope for is that their movie becomes the object of repeated late-night, goofy, stoned viewings in thousands of dorm rooms across America; that the lines they write creep into pop-culture consciousness, quoted endlessly by SportsCenter anchors or the characters' names supply thousands with "creative" Instant Messenger handles; and that, years later, you'll stop and watch even the last 25 minutes on cable as you flip through the channels, still freshly dripping from your shower, just because that one joke is coming up. And then you laugh at it for the millionth time. I doubt that if you cornered David Dobkin, the director of WEDDING CRASHERS, he would tell you he consciously strived for this elite pantheon each time he had stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn framed for action, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind it either; and for a brief moment, they all almost pull it off.
Wilson and Vaughn play John Beckwith and Jeremy Klein, marriage mediators who moonlight as serial uninvited wedding guests attending the parties for the free food, booze and women. The first forty-five minutes of the film perfectly captures the politically correct backlash currently simmering underneath the popular landscape. No shamefully sanitized stone, whether it be conservation, abstinence, dieting or religious, racial and sexual-identity tolerance is left unturned. Led by Vince Vaughn's rat-tat-tat ad-libbing (imagine SWINGERS' Trent ten years later), plenty of laughs are to be had during the opening montage, as the two riotously set weddings of all colors, shapes and sizes ablaze, unapologetically leaving miles of women and empty champagne bottles in their wake.
The humorous momentum continues as the movie gets into its story: Beckwith uncharacteristically falls for Claire (Rachel McAdams), the daughter of US Treasury Secretary William Cleary (Christopher Walken) at the wedding of another of his daughters. Beckwith drags his buddy out to the Cleary vacation home to get closer to Claire, despite the fact she has a jerk-off boyfriend. The subsequent hilarity brings the awkward highpoints of MEET THE PARENTS or COMING TO AMERICA to mind.
However, when Boy loses Girl - as it happens in all of these movies - the tone changes. Normally, Boy will get Girl back in ten minutes, wrap it up with a laugh and send it's audience home with a smile. In WEDDING CRASHERS, this inevitability drags on for entirely way to long, filling out the second half of its overlong two hour length. By the time Will Ferrell's perfunctory cameo appears - the second hour's lone real semi-bright spot - the boisterous, daring tone of the first half is too far gone for redemption. Considering Wilson and Vaughn's awesome chemistry (strangely the first time the two have starred together), Walken's always uber-enjoyable prescence and excellent contributions from both Rachel McAdams and Isla Fischer (playing Gloria Cleary, Claire's wacky sister and Vaughn's love interest), the last hour raises the level of final disappointment.
So like many of the current flock of comedies that star Stillers, Wilsons, Farrells and Vaughns, WEDDING CRASHERS has moments of comedic brilliance yet ultimately falls short of the kind of perfection and legs that are required for them be assigned "classic" status. But at least be sure to keep your bath towel on, a few years down the road, should your remote be lucky enough to find that first hour on tv.
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 | Jessica
Jan 31, 2007 1:27 PM
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| Great Review !!! Awesome movie ... i think i like it more each time i watch it !!! |
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