Wedding Crashers (2005)
Vince Vaughn. Owen Wilson. Luke
Wilson. Ben Stiller. Will Ferrell. Mix any two of
these five actors into a plot and you've got a movie
guaranteed to gross at least 80 million dollars if
released during the summer. Hell, the plot isn't even
all that important. All you need is booze, food, parents,
sporting activities with a few random cute younger
guys, and some girls in skimpy outfits in the mix
and you've covered all your bases. Drinking jokes,
puke jokes, fart jokes, shit jokes, old people jokes,
sex jokes, old people having sex jokes, gay jokes,
sports jokes, injury slapstick, boob jokes and relationship
jokes will simply coming pouring from the improvisational
skills of our five main actors.
Hence "Wedding Crashers" a funny
if not overly long and wildly uneven film. Vaughn
and Wilson the O are hooked up this time as arbitration
partners who spend their free time crashing wedding
receptions to pick up free booze, free food and women
in the mood for love. What could kill such a joyous
and carefree lifestyle? Why, one of the guys would
have to fall in love now, wouldn't he.
Don't get me wrong; "Wedding Crashers"
is hilarious at times. And the film is a wonderful
relief from all the crap that is streaming through
our local megaplexes this year. Hollywood is in a
Grade A slump my friends. With all the sequels and
unoriginal ideas inundating our local theaters, a
film like "Wedding Crashers" seems like a breath of
fresh air. It is, after all, "American Pie" with guys
in their early 30's. But that's more original than
almost anything out there. And the same counter-programming
that made "Pie" such a hit a few years ago (even with
an R rating and a summer release date) is the same
counter-programming that has made this film such a
success.
And even with all the shit jokes,
puke jokes, sex jokes and gay jokes, "Wedding Crashers"
seems pretty innocuous. Even the inclusion of a young
gay male characters, which is used almost solely for
jokes, is still treated pretty fairly and inoffensively
by this film. While he's shown to be a bit bonkers,
he's no more crazy than anyone else in his fucked-up
family. And while Vaughn seems troubled by his attention,
he doesn't ever rebuff him in an insensitive manner.
And, most importantly, it's funny. Hey, funny is funny.
If you make me laugh, you can do all the gay jokes
you want. I just wish they would have given the little
gay boy a cute, little, alt- rock, gay boyfriend at
the end of the film. It would have been easy to do.
Then everyone could have had their "Happily Ever After..."
"Wedding Crashers" is harmless goofy
fun. In a summer where were up to our knees in dreck
like "Bewitched," "Herbie," "Rebound," "Fantastic
4," "Bad News Bears," and "The Dukes of Hazzard,"
this formulaic free-for-all from the new Hollywood,
Frat-pack (Wilson, Wilson, Vaughn, Stiller and Ferrell)
is almost a breath of fresh air.
Notes:
Also with Will Ferrell, Christopher
Walken, Rachael McAdams, Jane Seymour, Keir O'Donnell,
Bradley Cooper, Henry Gibson, Dwight Yoakum, and Rebecca
De Mornay. With cameos by James Carville and John
McCain.
Directed by David Dobkin (who directed
Vaughn in one of his first films after fame, "Clay
Pigeons" and Wilson in "Shanghai Knights."
Viewed in Austin in July 2005.
