Wedding Crashers (2005)
Remember a time when comedies were made by people other than Judd Apatow and his seemingly endless string of financially successful yet mostly unfunny films? Yeah, me too. Believe it or not, "Wedding Crashers" has no involvement from Apatow at all. Thank God, now we'll have good scripted jokes rather than two hours of unfunny improv. Right? Well, yes and no...
The story follows John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn), two business men who have a unique way of scoring with the ladies- crashing weddings. After successfully crashing a few weddings, John falls for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams) and persues her ignoring the "get in, get out" rule of wedding crashing. Fuck it, that's all I can be arsed to type. The film's as predictable as the changing of day into night. Nearly every (figurative) corner the film turns there's another hackneyed character or plot device ready and waiting. Example? Remember the "old lady who says inappropriate things" gag? Yeah, that's in here. The "character who seems quiet and sweet but then turns out to be a sex mad nutter"? In here too. In terms of acting, Wilson and Vaughn are just playing the same characters they've always played. I'd say they've got nice chemistry and play off each other well, but that's mainly down to the fact that they know each other in real life. "Wedding Crashers" is just a paycheque to them, you can tell. Neither are particularly funny, which is a shame as both are highly capable comedic actors. I expected more of Christopher Walken too- although I'm not sure why.
I hate to drag out me ol' stuck record, but this film should be funnier. I swear, I have not seen a comedy in four or five years that has made the most of the situations and actors' talents. I think the last films to do that to my satisfaction was "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Borat" both of which I found to be incredibly funny. Judge me if you want. I reckon that the reason that very funny comedies aren't being made anymore is due to the fact that they are churned out with startling regularity without care or attention.
Apart from the lame "seen it all before" jokes, there are some genuinely funny lines and situations. I thought the montage of the different crashed weddings and the lies they told to get in was great. I also liked the secretive-handjob-under-the-table scene with Vaughn pulling out some funny gurns from his bag o' tricks. Special mention for Will Ferrell's funny cameo too.
All in all, "Wedding Crashers" is a functional comedy. It's the "White Lightning" of ciders- cheap, but gets the job done. I get the feeling that if it had stuck with its quite risque guns, it could have been a much better film but it ends up a predictable, unremarkable comedy.That's all I can say, really. I kinda wish it was terrible because then I could call it "crashingly boring" or something, but it isn't. It's a solid three stars from me.
"Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bullseye."
The story follows John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn), two business men who have a unique way of scoring with the ladies- crashing weddings. After successfully crashing a few weddings, John falls for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams) and persues her ignoring the "get in, get out" rule of wedding crashing. Fuck it, that's all I can be arsed to type. The film's as predictable as the changing of day into night. Nearly every (figurative) corner the film turns there's another hackneyed character or plot device ready and waiting. Example? Remember the "old lady who says inappropriate things" gag? Yeah, that's in here. The "character who seems quiet and sweet but then turns out to be a sex mad nutter"? In here too. In terms of acting, Wilson and Vaughn are just playing the same characters they've always played. I'd say they've got nice chemistry and play off each other well, but that's mainly down to the fact that they know each other in real life. "Wedding Crashers" is just a paycheque to them, you can tell. Neither are particularly funny, which is a shame as both are highly capable comedic actors. I expected more of Christopher Walken too- although I'm not sure why.
I hate to drag out me ol' stuck record, but this film should be funnier. I swear, I have not seen a comedy in four or five years that has made the most of the situations and actors' talents. I think the last films to do that to my satisfaction was "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Borat" both of which I found to be incredibly funny. Judge me if you want. I reckon that the reason that very funny comedies aren't being made anymore is due to the fact that they are churned out with startling regularity without care or attention.
Apart from the lame "seen it all before" jokes, there are some genuinely funny lines and situations. I thought the montage of the different crashed weddings and the lies they told to get in was great. I also liked the secretive-handjob-under-the-table scene with Vaughn pulling out some funny gurns from his bag o' tricks. Special mention for Will Ferrell's funny cameo too.
"Yeah? Well, the 'proper' girl in the hat just eye-fucked the shit out of me."
All in all, "Wedding Crashers" is a functional comedy. It's the "White Lightning" of ciders- cheap, but gets the job done. I get the feeling that if it had stuck with its quite risque guns, it could have been a much better film but it ends up a predictable, unremarkable comedy.That's all I can say, really. I kinda wish it was terrible because then I could call it "crashingly boring" or something, but it isn't. It's a solid three stars from me.
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