At first blush, Wedding
Crashers looks like a surefire winner,
featuring two immensely popular actors, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, in a
shameless premise that allows them to tackle roles they excel at. However,
all of the pieces don’t fall neatly into place in this ribald comedy.
As divorce mediators, John and Jeremy (Wilson and
Vaughn) go to any length to make warring exes see eye to eye, even under
the most strenuous circumstances. The only thing they’re better at is
crashing weddings. Equipped with false identities and elaborate
backstories, this duo won’t let little things — such as not
knowing either the bride or groom — deter them. Nope, it’s a
challenge for them to bed a babe before the end of the evening, and, with
17 ceremonies on tap over the course of one summer, these guys have their
work cut out for them. However, things hit a snag when they decide to crash
the wedding of the oldest daughter of Treasury Secretary William Cleary
(Christopher Walken). What’s supposed to be the crowning achievement
in their careers in debauchery turns into a nightmare. John commits the
cardinal sin of falling in love with Cleary’s daughter Claire (Rachel
McAdams), and Jeremy beds Claire’s sister Gloria (Isla Fischer), a
young lady who seems intent on pushing the boundaries of nymphomania.
Ironically, the film starts to lose its focus as soon
as our poster boys for arrested development are entrapped by the loony
Cleary clan. Roped into spending a weekend at the Clearys’ country
estate, John hopes to woo Claire away from her boyfriend; wingman Jeremy
spends the three days trying to avoid Gloria, to no avail. These parallel
plots would have been more than enough to sustain the film, but
screenwriters Steve Faber and Bob Fisher throw in needless subplots that
nearly stop the movie in its tracks. While these useless moments play out,
all we’re doing is champing at the bit to get back to the four
principals, who are all quite good.
Without question, when Crashers delivers the laughs, they are explosive. The humor here is
adult-oriented but stays within the bounds of good taste. Although the film
has enough redeeming qualities to make it worth watching to the end, it
winds up akin to a tepid affair with a so-so band and dry cake rather than
the memorable barn-burner it should have been.
This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2005.
