Wedding Crashers (2005)
Directed by: David Dobkin
Premise: Two lawyers (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn) invite themselves to weddings to seduce women. Things go awry when one of them falls in love with a bride’s sister (Rachel McAdams).
What Works: Wedding Crashers is very funny and one of the better adult comedies to come along in awhile. It is refreshing to see a comedy whose intended audience is grown up and the film takes advantage of the opportunity to address mature subject matter in a comedic but adult fashion. Wilson and Vaughn have great comic timing and deliver dialogue exchanges that are as funny as they are impressive. There are some interesting turns in a relationship between Vaughn and another bridesmaid (Isla Fisher) that keeps elements of the film unpredictable in the middle.
What Doesn’t: Much of the film’s story borrows from a predictable formula and if it were not for the Vaughn-Fisher relationship, things would get really cliché. There is a promising subplot between Owen Wilson and the bride’s mother (Jane Seymour) that is dropped about half way through the film but could have developed into something more interesting. This is a raunchy comedy and so people who do not like that should be forewarned.
Bottom Line: Wedding Crashers is a comedy for fans of American Pie and similar films. It follows an entrenched formula but it does that formula well enough to be very entertaining for a couple of hours. It also has something to say and its humor reveals some keen ideas on the issues of sex, love, and marriage.
Episode: #63 (August 7, 2005)