Hide The Bridesmaids! (Movie only Review) (Wedding Crashers (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Wedding Crashers (DVD)
Date:	27/10/06 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good performances from the leads as well as the supporting cast

Disadvantages: Gets a bit overly sentimental

Comedy is a genre that can be difficult to get right and is so often got hideously wrong. “Dodgeball” and “Shanghai Noon” are just two examples of movies with a funny premise and a good idea but where the final execution left the viewer wondering what might have been. For the purpose of this review, it’s apt that those two movies starred Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson respectively as they were paired up for the 2005 extravaganza that was “Wedding Crashers”, a movie that saw director David Dobkin ("Shanghai Knights") re-united with Wilson once again.

Wilson and Vaughn play John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a couple of guys making a living in Washington, D.C., as divorce mediators. Keen to exploit their single status they develop a girl-catching gimmick by crashing weddings. With a carefully crafted series of rules, they make up new personalities that fit with the notion of being at the wedding and that will enable them to pull any of the hot women they take a fancy too at the wedding celebrations. However, when one of the duo breaks the rules of the game by falling in love, their games descends into farce having crashed the wedding of the daughter of Treasury Secretary William Cleary (Christopher Walken) and hit on bridesmaids Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher). John‘s feelings towards Claire present a particular challenge; not only is she the daughter of a powerful politician, she also happens to be the girlfriend of Sack (Bradley Cooper), a blue-blooded son of old money in the guise of the Lodge family. In contrast, Jeremy’s frolicking with Gloria on a beach leads her to confess that she is a virgin although her subsequent clinging together with no-holds barred sex games start to make him wonder what’s going on. Jeremy is desperate to flee but John needs more time with Claire to win her over.

As far as the leads go then I‘ve never been a big fan of either. Owen has been converted from writer to lead actor with a huge amount of success and a string of hit movies. “The Jackie Chan inspired “Shanghai” movies, “Starsky and Hutch” and “You, Me and Dupree” are just three of his recent hits. A combination of shaggy blonde hair, broken nose and a laconic drawl all seem to appeal to the maternal side of women giving him a surprising allure that fires his appeal. Vaughn has also had recent success with “The Break-Up” and the underrated “Dodgeball”. In the “Wedding Crashers” the pair do achieve an on-screen chemistry that works well and keeps the movie coherent for the majority of the lengthy 119 minute running time. The scenes in the churches are particularly fertile for comic opportunity with Wilson squirting water in his eyes at one stage to appear vulnerable to a babe sitting in the row in front whilst there are some great exchanges such as the one where John makes a mistake and tells a relative that he is a relation who turns out to be dead. Having extricated himself from the lie, the pair whisper to each other in the church: “Jeremy: How many times you gonna do this bullshit? Rule 32: never commit to a relative unless you're absolutely positive they have a pulse. John: Rule 16: give me an up-to-date family tree, that was your mistake, you just made me look like an idiot. Jeremy: Rule 76: No excuses. Play like a champion!”

Where the movie works well is the pace the films moves at. Fast enough to keep the audience interested whilst skimming over the apparent plot holes, the story keeps going just enough to get through the mid-section set in the Geary household where the pace slackens and the central premise falters erring on the side of predictability. Technically, the movie is adept and the montage by editor Mark Livolsi of the leads enjoying themselves at a series of Jewish, Irish and Italian weddings is a visual delight. Julio Macat's cinematography is sharp with the movie shot in various locations from Washington to Maryland whilst Barry Robison's sets achieve enough credibility to lend an authenticity to the whole affair. What’s particularly good about “Wedding Crashers” is the depth of quality in the supporting roles. Both McAdams and Fisher manage to look sexy and vibrant whilst at the same time delivering great comic support in very different ways. Isla Fisher is a joy as the nymphomaniac stalker, never more so when she’s clinging to Vaughn whilst his trousers are down around his ankles and he is poised, seated on the toilet ready for anything but sex and when she tells him in a pixie-like voice that if he ever tries to leave her she’ll find him. McAdams is more thoughtful as the confused love interest, torn between the shallow Sack and the caring John. Her mischievous smile and endearing manner at the society wedding make her an endearing target of affection for both Owen Wilson as well as the audience who can empathise with her predicament.

Where the movies loses out is the switch from Farrelly Brother-like comedy to start off with to a more saccharine-fuelled plot with the obvious message that genuine love beats a life of casual sex. The Kennedy-esque sequences at the Geary mansion take the movie down a side road headlined dysfunctional family and borderline soap opera. Christopher gets to play Christopher Walken (as usual) with his low, gravely whisper and penetrating stares whilst Jane Seymour playing his wife Kathleen is set up nicely as his philandering wife only to be left stranded by the script in a sub-plot that ultimately ends in a cul-de-sac. Keir O’Donnell is another missed opportunity as the crazed son of the Secretary who paints, has an ambiguous sexuality and appears to be conveniently parked out of the media eye due to his curious behaviour whilst Ellen Albertini Dow as Grandma gets some great one-liners but, again, her character is skimmed over like the rest of the cast in relative terms. I really couldn’t see what Will Ferrell’s cameo added to the story at all about from another chance on screen for the former Saturday Night Live star to act goofy and look stupid.

Rated 15 with mild sexual scenes and an adult scenario, “Wedding Crashers” is likely to appeal to older teens and adults wanting to enjoy a mildly funny comedy with romance at heart. The sentiments are old fashioned, the story is convoluted and the musical score is rollicking. If you want an unchallenging couple of hours in front of a feel good movie that’s well-made but misses a trick then this will be for you. Personally, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would after having read mixed reviews on release. On that note - I’d recommend it!

Thanks for reading.

Mara.

Notes
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Issued by New Line Cinema
A Tapestry Films production
Screenwriters: Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
DVD available at Amazon for just £4.97 on Amazon at the moment.

Summary: Review of Wedding Crashers