Movie Reviews
Wedding Crashers 
Rated R (2005)
Starring: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Christopher Walken
Direction: David Dobkin
Production: Robert L. Levy, Peter Abrams, Andrew Panay
Screenplay: Bob Fisher, Steve Faber
by Vincent St. James
The Lowdown:
Vince Vaughn is hilarious and the movie doesn't pull any punches. Its some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long time.
Thin Line Between Love and Sex
Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) and John (Owen Wilson) work hard at their day jobs: helping married couples settle divorces. However, they spend most of their times, ironically, at weddings- they become the life of the party and do what it takes to sleep with some hottie. They play with false identities and party hard. However, when one of them falls for a girl at one wedding, they both get caught up in unbelievable circumstances with one of the most influential upper class families in the country.
The movie starts off with a bang and never lets up. Some people might not like that it never gets around to being a complete story (protagonist/antagonist, plot, climax, conlusion-- all that jazz) rather than a series of funny scenes, but I took it for what it is...funny, not-so-wholesome entertainment. Some of the situational comedy (Vince Vaughn's night from hell was classic) is the best I've seen in some time, and there are plenty of individual scenes that work, such as the football game and dinner. They flow with each other enough as to keep the movie moving in a fine pace. We're never bored and always on the verge of laughter if not laughing already.
Vince Vaughn has somewhat made a name for himself in these types of comedies. After Old School he starred in Dodgeball and played a wanna-be black pimp in Be Cool. Sometimes he goes over the top, but here is outstanding and delivers most of the films best lines. The movie also features Old School star Will Farrell in a very funny cameo done in good taste, though not without the over-the-top comedic gestures we have come to expect from Farrell.
Owen Wilson is very good in this movie. He isn't especially funny. Instead, he plays the likable guy you want to root for and hope gets the girl. He doesn't over do things but is never overshadowed by Vaughn, which is a compliment. The rest of the cast does what they set out to do. At times some of the characters seem superfluous, such as having BOTH a disturbed brother and grandma in one scene... (the crazy grandma isn't all that new of a character these days). But for the most part they make us laugh. Oddly enough, Christopher Walken plays a role where he isn't making us laugh or is overly creepy, instead he's playing a rather normal, boring character, which goes against what one would expect with a movie like this. Regardless, he does his job as effectively as always, this time without all the attention.
Some subtle points of the script and cinematography were especially pleasant. The sleeping-over-for-the-birthday bit shows how serious the problem is with John towards the end. The shot with the Washington Monument as the penis and John and Jeremy as the (you know what) was pretty funny, and Claire's remark about John not being young at the end shows how deep their connection really is. There is some subtle symmetry in the film, such as when both Claire and John walk the hallway, the references to hillbilly and white trash at the beginning and towards the end, and
**SPOILER the crashing of weddings at the beginning and again towards the end when the film wraps itself up
SPOLIER END***
Ultimately, this movie is a lot of fun, and for viewers with an eye for detail, there is much to be seen about the vulnerablilty of those in high-emotional situations.
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