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WEDDING CRASHERS by Tom McCurrie
Hollywood has given us plenty of comedies this year. Unfortunately, most of these have been unintentional ones. But I'm happy to report that Hollywood has given us the best intentional comedy in quite a while -- WEDDING CRASHERS.
Written by Steve Faber and Bob Fischer, and directed by David Dobkin, WEDDING CRASHERS tells the tale of two hot-shot arbitrators (Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn) who like to "crash" weddings under phony names so they can hit on unattached female guests. And since attending a wedding has already put these women in a romantic mood, they are easy prey for smooth-talking Lotharios who want to lie their way into a one-night stand (i.e., by pretending to be a mountain climber with a tragic past, by pretending to like Oprah's book club, etc.). But when these two Don Juans crash the wedding of the Treasury Secretary's daughter, Wilson finds himself falling for the bride's sister (Rachel McAdams), and talks his way into having him and Vaughn spend the weekend with McAdams' nutty family so he can win her over. Will Wilson be able to do it before McAdams' psychotically preppy boyfriend (Bradley Cooper) pressures her into marriage? And what will happen when she discovers Wilson crashed the wedding under a phony name with an equally phony background? Will she still love him then?
As this short synopsis indicates, WEDDING CRASHERS has a lot going for it. In a movie-going season where everything seems to be a rip-off or a remake, CRASHERS has one of the freshest, and most hilarious, premises out there. And for a comedy, the movie grips us with quite a bit of suspense. We bite those nails down to the nub as Wilson's lies and Cooper's schemes add more and more obstacles in the way of true love for our leads. The reason this suspense builds, of course, is that we care about those leads. At first, Wilson's behavior is sleazy, but we see a heart of gold slowly beating its way through the shallowness, ultimately endearing us to his character. And though McAdams' part is woefully underwritten, she invests it with such radiance and goofy charm that we can't help but fall for her like Wilson does.
But to paraphrase screenwriting guru Robert McKee, the measure of a successful comedy isn't whether it has plenty of suspense or likeable leads. It's whether the freakin' thing is funny. And here CRASHERS shoots and scores big time. The movie is full of comic set-pieces so uproarious that whole swaths of dialogue are missed because you are laughing so loud. The highlight of the film occurs during a stately dinner, where Vaughn finds it nearly impossible to keep a straight face (I don't want to give anything away, but Vaughn has a good reason for his expression!). This moment rivals the Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan deli scene in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY for side-splitting hilarity, and will be talked about, and endlessly played on DVD, for years to come.
Helping matters immensely is that Wilson and Vaughn make a superb comic duo. Wilson's laid-back dude and Vaughn's hyperactive motor-mouth might grow tiresome separately, but together they complement their strengths and neutralize their weaknesses. It's almost as if their two personalities create a funnier third one just by being in close proximity to each other over the course of the movie.
Now I don't want to get your expectations up too much. After all, WEDDING CRASHERS isn't in the same league (or even the same state) as one of Preston Sturges' sharply-written romantic comedies. For one thing, as McAdams' father, Christopher Walken is given little to do as he's forced to play "normal" (and as a Walken fan, that's a crime). And for another, there's no genre with a more predictable ending than romantic comedy. This is fine, but at almost two hours, CRASHERS delays the inevitable climax for much too long, causing the pic to drag towards the end.
Most importantly, I have to warn you -- the humor in CRASHERS is very raunchy. There's definitely a reason the film is rated R. But the message of the story -- that true love is better than meaningless lust -- makes the movie as heartwarming as any G-rated Disney flick. And besides, a lot of that raunch is extremely funny.
So if you're tired of the umpteenth comic-book adaptation down at the multiplex, and you want some great laughs, and a few tears as well, invite yourself to your local theatre to check out WEDDING CRASHERS.
Responses, comments and general two-cents worth can be E-mailed to gillis662000@yahoo.com.
(Note: For all those who missed my past reviews, they're now archived on Hollywoodlitsales.com. Just click the link on the main page and it'll take you to the Inner Sanctum. Love them or hate them at your leisure!)
A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Tom McCurrie has worked as a development executive and a story analyst. He is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles and is currently working on his first novel.
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