SNMR 8.16: "Wedding Crashers"

GREEN'S "I JUST WANT A BICYCLE!" REVIEW:

Longtime friends John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) have regular jobs as mediators in disputes such as divorce cases. In their spare time, these two seemingly normal guys love to crash weddings and wedding parties to meet girls & have sex. Not only are they good at it but have developed a list of "rules" that they use. The real challenge comes when they crash the wedding of the daughter of the US Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Cleary (Christopher Walken) and his wife (Jane Seymour). Unexpectedly, John & Jeremy each fall for another of the Secretary's daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher).

Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie before I watched it for this review. I had bought the DVD a while ago at a store I shop at frequently. I had heard about it before and bought it because I think Vince Vaughn is a funny guy and have enjoyed his other movies.

What I didn't realize then was that this movie has such a great supporting cast behind VV and Owen Wilson. I'm not a huge Owen Wilson fan but he definitely fits in playing a great straight man to VV's over the top acting. Rachel McAdams is a fantastic actress with great range. Isla Fisher has been adorable in every movie I've seen of hers. I was surprised to see Bradley Cooper in this movie. He was good as the "I'm better than you" boyfriend. Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour are just great.

I haven't seen either of the other big screen movies that David Dobkin has directed but he does a good job here of managing talent and keeping the story crisp. The screenplay by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, two writers who I'd never heard of before, is excellent, though does get a bit predictable at times.

I watched the "uncorked" version of the movie, which adds 8½ minutes of footage to the theatrical release version. I like the fact that the theatrical version and the "uncorked" version were included on the DVD. The extra behind-the-scenes features and deleted scenes were good. Just the stuff I like. I also enjoyed reading the twenty-four still screens of the wedding crasher "rules."

Hysterical film. There were times that I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe and got all watery-eyed. It's well worth the $5 I paid..


***½ out of *****

Wedding Crashers (2005, R, 120 minutes), starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Christopher Walken, Bradley Cooper and Jane Seymour. Written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. Directed by David Dobkin.