WEDDING CRASHERS by David Dobkin
John (Owen Wilson – funny) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn – hilarious) are best pals and they have the perfect way to chase women – they crash weddings and take advantage of the party mood – no matter if it’s a jewish, catholic, irish, or hindu wedding – John and Jeremy are there, posing as some relatives of relatives of the family, having great fun, enjoying free food and drinks – and looking out for cuties among the guests. Everything goes smooth, until John gets the hots for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams – charming and beautiful), and Jeremy seduces her sister Gloria (Isla Fisher – great fun). Claire and Gloria are the daughters of treasury secretary Cleary (Christopher Walken), and after the wedding, our heros are invited to visit the family. While Jeremy desperately wants to escape from horny Gloria and her scary dad, John falls far the beautiful Claire – whose fiance stays with the family as well. Time is limited until the party is over or the wedding crashers’ covers are blown …
**** SPOILER WARNING ****
The plot may sound lame, but don’t be fooled – it’s not he plot that drives this movie, but the chemistry between stars Vince Vauhn and Owen Wilson. Owen plays it quite straight, his love story with sensitive Claire (Rachel McAdams) providing the romantic heart of the film, but Vince Vaughn’s Jeremy and his adventures with Isla Fisher (and other members of the family Cleary) are the guts and balls – and their interaction makes WEDDING CRASHERS one of the most entertaining comedies of the last years.
The pacing is flawless – the introduction is kept short and elegant, the gags keep coming and rarely blow, and there are hilarious and memorably scenes aplenty (the dinner-handjob scene, the ‘midnight-rape’ scene, the football-scene, Vince’s ‘confession’, the quail-hunt, the grandma, ‘we lost a lot of good men out there’, ‘tell that to the Dalai Lama’, . . . .).
The only weak point is Claire’s boyfriend (Bradley Cooper – not his fault) because his character is so stereotypically bad-guy ( he’s like the carbon copy of Matthew Glave’s character in THE WEDDING SINGER) that we know right away Claire won’t marry him – ever, and there is no conflict for the audience or Rachel McAdams’ character as soon as she gets to really know him.
The general tone is raunchy and steamy but stays in comfortable distance to the gross humour of the typical teeny comedy of today, but will still appeal more to ‘the boys’ than to their girlfriends – but alongside the juicy gags comes a healthy dose of romance and some food for thought. Well, maybe not the latter – gotcha there! *g*
