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| Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| WEDDING CRASHERS uses the full power of its R rating to thoroughly tickle our funny bones but without a single crude or vulgar moment. One of the prime causes of movie failures is the lack of genuine or interesting chemistry, but WEDDING CRASHERS is bursting with believable chemistry, especially that between the two hilarious leads, Vince Vaughn, as a wacky motormouth named Jeremy Grey, and Owen Wilson as John Beckwith, Jeremy's lovable and equally wild best friend.
Like kids at Christmas, Jeremy and John live for a season filled with goodies. For them that time of the year is the wedding season, since these two lawyers spend their time crashing weddings, where they can find free food and lots of women who will fall for their sweet schtick. They play with the children at the weddings, they cry on cue, and they tell sad, moving stories to the prettiest single women there. And it works. These irresistible rogues live a life of one night stands.
Wedding crashers live by an intricate series of rules set down by one Chaz Reingold, who thought up the idea. Almost a mythical figure, Chaz hasn't exactly made the most of his life since it's said that he's a 40-year-old guy who still lives with his mother.
After a long stream of successes, Jeremy and John set their sights higher. They decide to crash the wedding of one of the daughters of Treasury Secretary Cleary (Christopher Walken). A busty Jane Seymour plays the Secretary's horny wife. Our professional crashers pull it off, but the job proves too much for them since they end up violating one of their cardinal rules, which is never falling in love with their prey. The insanely possessive and the initially very virginal Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher from SCOOBY DOO) sets her sights on Jeremy after he puts the moves on her, and her sister Claire (Rachel McAdams from MEAN GIRLS) finds herself beginning to love John, although she is currently engaged to a preppy prick.
The first half of the film finds lot of easy laughs, but the more serious second half tries harder and gets even bigger laughs. The love is real, causing the humor to be especially effective. Rather than finding their actions despicable, we come to believe that these two handsome and adorable guys are the types you'd like to have crash your wedding. It certainly could liven it up. And, if they end up hitting it off with one of your guests, more power to them.
WEDDING CRASHERS runs 1:59. It is rated R for "sexual content/nudity and language" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
My son Jeffrey, age 16, gave it *** 1/2. He said it was funny on a romantic level and not like AMERICAN PIE sort of funny. His friend Yasmin, just about to turn 16, gave it ***. She said that it was "totally, totally hilarious." They both commented on how much they liked Owen Wilson in it.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
By : Steve Rhodes (http://www.internetreviews.com/)
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| | Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| Wedding Crashers Rating: *** (out of ****) A review by Matt Noller (http://uhmovies.tripod.com) Certain critics seem to feel obligated to mount intellectual defenses of rather simplistic films that they liked. It's almost as if we're not allowed to enjoy something unless it is intellectually stimulating or especially well-made. But you know what? Fuck those guys. Pull the stick out of your ass and have some fun for a change.
If what I just said pissed you off, don't bother with Wedding Crashers. It's simplistic, it adheres to formulas and clichés. There's rarely a narrative or emotional moment here that you haven't seen in some other form. Oh - and it's also really funny. So weigh your options; is it more important that the film be original, or is it more important that it'll make you laugh your ass off? For me, in this context, laughter wins.
Is the movie a great work of art? No, of course not. But it never aspires to be, and to hold it to those standards is just plain idiotic. When a movie's concept revolves around two guys who crash weddings to pick up chicks, you should know what to expect, and although that might not be much, trust me - here, most everything just clicks.
Wedding Crashers establishes its intentions through a bravura opening montage of alcohol, sex and nudity, in which crashers John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) seduce and bed lots of loose women. Comedies all too often fail to follow through on their lowbrow convictions, and it's refreshing to see a movie this determined to gleefully push the boundaries of good taste.
After the events depicted in the montage, John and Jeremy decide to crash the wedding of their lives. The Secretary of the Treasury's (Christopher Walken) daughter is getting married, so of course it's going to be a very big deal. At the wedding, both men set their sights on the Secretary's other two daughters - John wants Claire (Rachel McAdams), who already has a boyfriend (Bradley Cooper), and Jeremy gets Gloria (Isla Fisher), a clingy nympho stalker.
And John falls in love, of course, and he fights to get Claire's affections and to reveal that her boyfriend is really a jerk. Then they have a fight, of course, and then there's the climax in which John gives a big, emotional speech and wins Claire's heart. Of course.
It's all very familiar, but Wilson and Vaughn manage to keep it interesting. Playing off of each other in a way reminiscent of John Belushi and Dan Akroyd, they represent the best comedy duo of modern film. Wilson's laid-back charm and Vaughn's hilariously fast-paced energy contrast perfectly, and they manage to find humor in even the most clichéd of scenes. McAdams is delightful, and a natural comedic talent; following her turns in last years' Mean Girls and The Notebook, this is an actress we will be seeing a lot more of.
So bitch all you want about how Wedding Crashers sticks to the romantic comedy format and about how the climax sucks. Because it's still the funniest film of the year so far, and if that's not enough for you, then I'm sorry.
By : Matt Noller (http://www.robomod.net/mailman/listinfo/rec-arts-movies-reviews)
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