Overall Rating
  Awesome: 18.7%
Worth A Look: 39.84%
Average: 21.14%
Pretty Bad: 8.13%
Total Crap: 12.2%
8 reviews, 75 user ratings
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| Wedding Crashers |
by Scott Weinberg
"A raunchily R-rated rom-com that actually has some heart."

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Hey, some clever screenwriter thought, why not take all the things that boys like in a comedy (raunch, pratfalls, profanity, and bare breasts) and combine them with all the things that girls seem to like (romance, sweetness, dashing scoundrels)?? We'll market the thing as a "guy movie rom-com" and get jokers like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn to star in it! And what do you know: Now only did the movie get made ... but it doesn't suck!One half raunchy sex romp and one half good-natured romantic comedy, David Dobkin's Wedding Crashers succeeds for a variety of reasons -- not the least of which is the one-two leading man punch of Wilson and Vaughn. The guys are precisely as horny and silly as we want them to be, but they're also imbued with a few stray traces of "real guy" niceness. So while Wedding Crashers begins as a raucous and slightly vulgar sex comedy, the two leads are slowly wheedling their way into your hearts -- and this is when the romance material pops up, and, against all logical odds, we're completely fine with the lighthearted lovey-doveyness, because we like these characters.
Wilson and Vaughn play a best-pal pair of divorce mediators ... but their main love is the art of the wedding crash. Posing as two obscure relatives from who-knows-where, John and Jeremy slink their way into a variety of wedding parties, always there to have a good time, enjoy lots of great food / alcohol, and (of course) snag a few lovely bridesmaids for a good ol' fashioned one night stand. J & J are both very charming and funny, which helps one to overlook the fact that, basically, they're misleading and emotionally abusing women for sex....
But therein lies much of the fun. Vaughn, Wilson, Dobkin, and screenwriters Steve Faber & Bob Fisher are clearly intent on plowing right through the PC barriers; although Wedding Crashers never really achieves true crassness, there's a gleefully sophomoric and perpetually horny tone to the duo's dalliances. They're just overgrown frat boys trying to have a little fun.
But, and here's where the romance comes in, John manages to fall madly in love with one particular maid of honor. She's Claire Cleary, a young woman who's painfully gorgeous as well as the daughter of a rather intimidating politician. Despite the glowering presence of her current boyfriend, Claire invites John and Jeremy to join her family at their mega-swank and palatial estate.
And here's where Wedding Crashers switches from Animal House-style debauchery to Meet the Parents-style comedy of social errors. It's a tonal shift that's swift and rather abrupt, and I would contend that Wedding Crashers earliest scenes are its very best, but it's the two leads who keep the flick chugging along quite amiably. Wilson is the puppy-eyed lovestruck charmer; Vaughn is the oversexed and sarcastic schemer. The setting might change appreciably, but the actors just keep on truckin' while delivering some healthy laughs.
Although Wedding Crashers is clearly a two-man show, one would be foolish not to appreciate the performances of Rachel McAdams (basically the "straight man" here, but very adorable and very charming), Isla Fisher (who steals some great scenes for her very own, by being very funny and very sexy at the same time), and the always brilliant Christopher Walken. (Walken seems at his most mellow and sedate in this particular movie, which is not something I really expected, but hey, it's Walken; who am I to complain?)
This goofy little farce is not without its shortcomings: it employs that stupid old "foul granny" schtick that's, quite simply, never funny -- and the movie really does slow down to a crawl in its third act, as if it doesn't really know how it should end. Small stumbling blocks, sure, but a movie with this many solid laughs shouldn't have to resort to tired old material ... and it should absolutely not overstay its welcome.But all things considered: "Wedding Crashers" is an absolutely perfect date movie for those between the ages of 18 and 40. It's got lots of playfully profane material, two solid comedians working overtime, and just enough well-earned sweetness to keep everybody happy. It ain't high art, and it sure isn't deep, but you'll laugh a lot, you'll get a happy ending, and you'll see a bevy of gorgeous women. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night.
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=12583&reviewer=128 originally posted: 07/15/05 18:58:40
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USA 15-Jul-2005 (R) DVD: 03-Jan-2006
UK N/A
Australia 11-Aug-2005
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