'Wedding Crashers' Review **** 092105

The Work = ****
I don't know how to say this but watching 'Wedding Crashers' I got the feeling I was watching a classic. I felt that I was watching a film like say 'Caddy Shack' or 'Stripes'. The film is, as the title implies, about a couple of guys who crash weddings. They do so because it is an easy way to meet single women, hook up, and then never talk to them again. They don't do this haphazardly, no, no, no, they have a list of rules that they follow (the exact number of the rules is a mystery,) that was passed down to them by the granddaddy wedding crasher.

The first thing about 'Wedding Crashers' that works in its favor is the film is an adult comedy and does not try to hide it. The film has an "R" rating, deserves it, and thankfully does not try to edit and cram its humor into a "PG-13" rating as some adult comedies seem to do. The leads are Owen Wilson who plays John Beckwith and Vince Vaughn who plays Jeremy Grey. The two of them work great together and have a real chemistry. Vaughn has played characters a little similar to this in the films he did with John Favreau, 'Swingers' and 'Made'. The guy is great at playing this kind of manic, obnoxious and very quick witted fellow (that reminds me a bit of James Woods.)

Jeremy is easily the more extreme of the two. John has started to grow tired of crashing weddings and probably would not be doing it were he not propelled by Jeremy. In the off-wedding season the two work together as divorce negotiators (which only reinforces their poor views of relationships.) Then things start to change. They end up at a wedding and John falls for a girl named Claire played by Rachel McAdams and one of her sisters named Gloria played by Isla Fisher falls for Jeremy. (McAdams and especially Fisher seem to be having a hoot in their roles and are a great counter to the guys.)

Jeremy wants out of the wedding entanglement he has found himself in with Gloria out but John won’t let him go, not so much for any moral reason but because he is after Claire. The girls’ father is played by Christopher Walken who is perfect for this role. It is to the credit of the filmmakers that Walken’s character is not a villain. He is an intimidating father to be sure but he is not a bad guy and Walken manages to scrape together a character out of the role. In a weaker movie he would have been the nemesis that the two heroes would have to outwit. In 'Wedding Crashers' they don’t have to outwit him so much as keep him happy. This gets more and more difficult as time goes by since his family seems a little off kilter. Take Jane Seymour who seems to be having a ball as Walken’s twisted wife.

It is difficult to write reviews because I hate to give things away and I hate to build things up. I will say that I had mixed feelings about going to see this film and I was quite surprised by it. It is very funny and I laughed pretty consistently throughout the film. When 'Wedding Crashers' is at its weakest is when it hits on formulaic plot developments that are almost inevitable when a comedy includes romance. That doesn’t happen often though and honestly they only stood out because the rest of the movie is so surprising and funny.

This is an easy one to recommend. If you like adult comedies then give it a try. If you are a fan of Vaughn’s Favreau films 'Made' and 'Swingers' definitely give it a try. I was impressed with 'Wedding Crashers' and have to admit I had a lot of fun watching it. Recommend.

-Nate

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