While I admit that I am probably one of the last people on earth to watch Wedding Crashers, I will say that I had it in my possession for over three years. I bought it previously viewed for $5 at Blockbuster a long while ago. It was never a question of if I would watch Wedding Crashers, but just a question of when. When discussing the best comedies of all time, many people (especially people my age and younger) will list Wedding Crashers in the first two or three movies they mention. When I tell them I haven’t seen it yet, I get the response, “Of all the movies you’ve seen, you’ve never seen Wedding Crashers?” So, much like the movie I most recently reviewed (The Green Mile), my expectations for Wedding Crashers were almost unrealistic. However, much like The Green Mile, the movie lived up to the hype. I’m not ready to put it into a top-five comedy of all time, but I will safely put it in the top ten.
Wedding Crashers stars Vince Vaughn (Old School, Swingers) and Owen Wilson (Marley and Me, Midnight in Paris) as John and Jeremy, divorce mediators by day and best friends by night. They spend their summers attending wedding receptions in which they know no one. They eat great food, get wasted on free alcohol, and try to lure the unwed bridesmaids into bed. Vaughn and Wilson were arguably at the heights of their careers in 2005. Their chemistry in this movie is fantastic.
We see the two men partying it up at various weddings during the early parts of the movie, including Italian weddings, Indiana weddings, Irish weddings, and Jewish weddings. The main focal point is when they decide to crash the wedding of the daughter of William Clearly (Christopher Walken – King of New York, Suicide Kings), the United States Secretary of the Treasury, and a potential future Presidential candidate. They know it will be the party of the year and don’t want to miss out. Jeremy is way more gung-ho about the event. John is almost souring on the scene, realizing sooner that maybe it’s time to move on from these shenanigans.
At the wedding, John falls hard for one of Clearly’s daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams – The Notebook, Sherlock Holmes). Jeremy has a quick fling on the beach with Clearly’s youngest daughter, Gloria (Isla Fisher – The Lookout, Confessions of a Shopaholic). Though Claire is married, John is determined that she is the one for him. And though Jeremy wants to get away from Gloria as soon as possible, as part of their “wedding crasher rules,” he must stand beside his buddy. The duo is soon invited back to the family’s shore house at the request of Gloria, which is where the mischief continues.
A movie can try to be hilarious without really having any real story. A film can also give a powerful story while never really getting to a funny state. The audience feels rewarded when a movie gives us a meaningful narrative while being hilarious. This movie does both. It doesn’t do this perfectly, but better than most. This movie is good, and most will enjoy it. If you like raunchy, r-rated humor, you’ll like it.
Wedding Crashers certainly has several laugh-out-loud moments. Still, in terms of a pure comedic first-time movie experience, it doesn’t compare to many other laugh until it hurts movies like Old School, Meet the Parents, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, American Pie, and There’s Something About Mary. But it is clearly in that next tier of movies, which include Knocked Up, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and I Love You Man, as well as some movies that came out closer to my childhood like Big, The Naked Gun, The Money Pit, and Groundhog Day.
Plot 8/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 8/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 7/10
Sound 8.5/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 5/10
78.5%