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Anyone who has read any of my reviews over the years will not be surprised when I state once again that I think that comedies
are devilishly hard to do well. Everything has to click: the timing, the acting, the chemistry, the type of humor, and the
story. Miss one beat and the whole movie will collapse like an undercooked soufflé. Since two-thirds to three-quarters of
this genre is aimed at the teenaged market, we adults are often forced to wait for an unduly long time before the next really
funny romantic comedy comes out.
On this score, "Wedding Crashers" is a lush bridal cake of fun. Almost everything DOES click here, including
the premise, which is so common sense that I am amazed that it has never been used before. What better way is there to shag
girls than to crash weddings in the hope of catching a starry eyed bridesmaid who has just escorted one of her best friends
down the aisle to hoped for wedded bliss, leaving her now alone, short another single friend, and facing possible spinsterhood?
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are masters at crashing weddings as they have learned from
the best, a legendary master from Jeremy's storied past named Chazz.
Ever since then they have worshipped at the alter of Chazz's long list of rules for conduct in crashing weddings. Due
diligence must always be done to make sure that there is an open bar as free drinks are always the best sign of free spending
hosts.
A cover must be found, so a search is always done to provide a relational context which will deflect all but the most
observant inquiries about who they are and how they got to be invited to the wedding. And, if all else fails and they are
thrown out of the affair, well, then there is no harm done but the loss of just one of many weekend evenings.
John and Jerry always go out of their way to ingratiate themselves with their unsuspecting hosts, all of whom assume that
these two friends are from the other side of the aisle. They always attend the weddings and they occasionally will manipulate
false tears into their eyes if it will provide the proper effect to a curious lady in one of the pews.
Later at the reception dinner they are quick with toasts for a successful marriage for the new bride and groom. They both
will dance with the elderly relatives and the young girls. Twisting balloons into all sorts of shapes to amaze the kids is
another trick up their sleeves. John is also great with magic tricks and Jeremy is a flamboyant dancer who delights in sweeping
the girls off their feet.
All in all, they have perfected their craft, and who in the wedding party could be so vile as to eject these two sociable
people masquerading as brothers who are at the moment the life of the party?
Jeremy and John are really unrelated long time friends and business partners. They work as neutral party negotiators and
facilitators who are called in by lawyers to help smooth the deeply troubled waters in divorce cases. Their charm and their
effectiveness in helping to bridge the chasm between divorcing spouses often serves them equally well at weddings where they
charm their hosts and then the bridesmaids.
Unfortunately, what their job has also done is to sour them on the very slim prospects for a happy marriage. That and
the success of their mentor's complex and well thought out philosophy for pulling off the deception of crashing weddings has
allowed them for decades to remain in the irresponsible Peter Pan phase of their lives dominated by weekend long wedding parties
filled with free food, free drinks, and irresponsible sexual dalliances.
They sweep the girls off their feet with tall tales of personal adventures, debilitating sacrifices, and casual derring
do, all with the single purpose of getting the girls into the bed during an emotionally complex period in their lives. These
girls have helped one of their best friends, perhaps even a sister, walk down the aisle and now they are left alone facing
possible spinsterhood as another one of their own flies off into wedded bliss.
Needless to say, it is all a ruse, for these two cads drop their bed partners like hot potatoes just as soon as the weekend
is over.
We would find it rather repulsive if the characters weren't so likable. And Owen Wilson's character is everything that
you could wish for in that department. This guy is a charming cad. But even now John wants to retire from the chase. He is
tired of all of the one night stands, not to mention all of the deception.
Jeremy reluctantly agrees with him, but, of course, there has to be one final, glorious wedding to crash along with the
romantic denouement of these two bad boys or this movie would soon be over.
The wedding of the year in their hometown of Washington, D.C. will be the marriage of one of the daughters of the current
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Cleary (Christopher Walken). Jeremy proposes crashing this wedding as their final curtain call.
It will be great fun and a great challenge with the Secret Service present and all.
The wedding takes place in Washington's National Cathedral and even Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (who has caught
some flack for this) and Democratic pundit James Carville are among the guests of honor in cameo appearances.
As they usually do, John and Jeremy start scanning the crowd in the pews and among the bridesmaids for potential victims
of their romantic con job. Jeremy spots a hot temptress (Isla Fisher) who returns his gaze with a come hither sexual invitation
and John spots a sweet brunette (Rachel McAdams, who did such a wonderful job in "The Notebook") who flashes charm
and intelligence along with the challenge of a bit of rebellion in her eyes.
The two men are thunderstruck on the spot, but they have yet to learn that these two bridesmaids are sisters to the girl
getting married. Secretary Cleary and his lovely wife, Kathleen (Jayne Seymour), will soon invite them to spend the weekend
at their estate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at the frantic urging of their daughter, Gloria (Isla Fisher), who is hot
for Jeremy.
Problems abound and the two quickly lose control of the situation when they find themselves removed from the public church
and country club reception to the privacy of an estate where the hosts are more in control.
Jeremy finds out that Gloria Cleary is more than he can handle and may be a psycho to boot. John finds out that Claire
Cleary (Rachel McAdams) has a boyfriend, Sack Lodge (Bradley Cooper), who is a control freak and an athletic Nazi who enjoys
beating people up for sport or for real. And their very lovely mother, Kathleen (Seymour), admits in a blatant come-on to
John that she has only been faithful to her husband for two of the many years that they have been married.
Piling on problem after problem, the officiating priest is an invited house guest and the lone son in the family is an
artist with homosexual tendencies. (I could easily have done without the tasteless homophobic jokes that revolved around this
situation.) In addition, neither of them have clothes to wear, so they have to make do with what is available at the estate.
The formula of these romantic comedies always is that the "good guy," in this case the somewhat problematic
good guy, has to lose the girl before he can get the girl. Claire's near-sadistic boyfriend (who is also a lying hound and
a sexual predator to help us clarify just who the villain is in this romantic triangle) has already called one of his friends
to sick a detective on the background of these two supposed Vermont venture capitalists.
You can be sure that the truth will come out, as it always does, just before John has captured Claire's heart.
The chemistry between John and Jeremy is great, but the chemistry between the guys and the two sisters is better yet due
to the compelling performances by Isla Fisher as Gloria and Rachel McAdams as Claire. McAdams offers such a wonderful, understated
performance that I fervently wish that she will be offered many more roles than she has been to date. She is a sweet beauty,
the real thing.
"Wedding Crashers" fires a few blanks, has occasionally more profanity than necessary, offers a tired characterization
of homosexuality, and is a tad too long. Other than these minor flaws, this is the comedy of the summer of 2005 for film fans
who revel in this kind of mature humor.
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