Perpetual
bachelors John Beckwith and Jeremy Klein (Owen Wilson and
Vince Vaughn) have found a new way to have a lot of fun
at some one else’s expense. Crash an unsuspecting
wedding.
These
two smooth operators pretend to be extended relatives or
friends of the bride or groom and people don’t seem
to be the wiser.
Their
new pastime gets a little complicated when John and Jeremy
decide to crash the party of a respectful politician (Christopher
Walken) and John falls for his daughter Claire (Rachel McAdams).
How
is Jeremy to survive without his partner of crashing? Is
the party finally over?
Wilson
and Vaughn are delightful as the party-goers and work extremely
well together. The only slight problem I had with them was
that Vaughn needs to find a new angle on his smarmy smart-ass
characters.
I really
enjoyed the supporting performances from Christopher Walken,
Jane Seymour and Isla Fisher. Each of these actors steal
precious minutes away from the stars with such ease. Fisher
is utterly hilarious.
“Wedding
Crashers” is like a lot of screwball comedies of the
last couple years. Our heroes love to party, love the women
and there are oodles of clever gags. Unfortunately for this
comedy, the film’s central party theme changes and
the film melts into a typical romantic comedy finale. It’s
embarrassing to witness because you know that the cast and
the filmmakers have enough talent to overcome such a cop-out.
I liked
a lot of the jokes and antics in the film but I felt entirely
cheated by the film’s ending.
It’s
wedding season again and for John (Wilson) and Jeremy (Vaughn)
it is time to sneak into as many ceremonies as they can
so they can meet all the romance-fuelled women and take
advantage. With their own set of rules, research and plan
of attack they never failed to score and were always the
life and soul of the party. As this season draws to a close
however, Jeremy discovers the big one. Treasury Secretary
William Cleary’s (Walken) daughter is getting married
and it is the biggest social event on the Washington D.C.
calendar, making this THE wedding they had to crash.
With
an ingenious premise, can ‘Wedding Crashers’
deliver on its comic potential or will you be left waiting
at the alter?
The
combination of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a couple
of guys who crash weddings to sleep with women has all the
possibility to become a comedy classic and while ‘Wedding
Crashes’ does delivers many laughs it doesn’t
quite have what it takes to make it into the classic category.
The main reason for this is that the film looses its way
as soon as the boys go to the Cleary wedding. This is when
Hollywood sentimentality and the rom-com elements really
kick in.
Going
from a riotous, outrageous comedic approach to a basic rom-com
kills much of the momentum gained in the first act of the
movie. While you can understand that Wilson’s John
might start thinking he is getting too old for this and
in Claire, he might have finally found someone he doesn’t
want to leave behind after the festivities have finished,
his story becomes far too cheesy and predictable. This is
a role that Wilson plays very well but he loses most of
his trademark deadpan one-liners that have become his trademark.
Rachel McAdams is beautiful as Claire, the object of John’s
affections but this is a role that doesn’t really
challenge her acting skills, as she is just there to look
nice.
Saving
the day is Vince Vaughn’s Jeremy’s romance with
the slightly cuckoo Gloria. Played brilliantly in a breakout
performance by Isla Fisher, Gloria is the psycho girlfriend
that everyman fears getting. Over the weekend an innocent
liaison on the beach turns into an obsession that turns
Jeremy’s weekend into relationship hell. This is the
comedic heartbeat of the remainder of the movie and Vince
Vaughn and Isla Fisher play off each other brilliantly.
This is a Vaughn at his best and some of the mishaps that
happen to him will have you laughing out loud.
The
rest of the cast are ok, with Bradley Cooper getting the
best part as the overly competitive boyfriend but Jane Seymour
and especially Christopher Walken are wasted, even when
their parts had get potential.
‘Wedding
Crashers’ is a comedy movie that has a great premise
but doesn’t deliver as much as it could have. Vince
Vaughn and Isla Fisher bring the comedy however and make
this an amusing rom-com that will have you laughing but
just don’t expect to be quoting from it as soon as
you leave. It makes you feel like you are falling for the
beautiful bridesmaid and you wake up with the bride’s
least favourite and slightly large Aunt but that’s
Weddings for you.