19th Century Parlor Farce

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2006)

Two hours into Wedding Crashers, Will Farrell appeared as Chazz Reinhold and true comic mastery ensued. Till then, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn struggled to hold up what is essentially a 19th Century parlor farce. Wedding are funny or at least ironic because they promise what is essentially impossible, "perfect union" between man and woman. As all successful married couples know, divorce or murder is a toilet seat-up-moment away.
Farce or screwball comedy introduces stressful situations and cross-purpose motivations amidst a large cast of diverse characters. They bounce off each other as if billiard balls. Wilson and Vaughn crash weddings to bed teary-eyed women in a moment of marital insecurity. The bride has her man, but what of the single gals? They are society's failures. They are also horny; hence, the premise of the film. We laugh at the Senator's family, each one a character except for Owen's new love, Claire. She's like Marilyn in the Munsters, normal, while her nympho sister, Claire's jock-nut fiancé, the insane-gay-artiste bro, and all the bedded bimbos, are nuts.
Hollywood used to produce screwball comedies during the Depression years to cheer folks up. Carole Lombard, Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Clark Gable all took a turn at the misunderstandings that create situation comedy, farce. Perhaps we need cheering up again. After all, there is a war going on and your mortgage is astronomical. Slip the DVD in honey and let's have a laugh.