When it's funny, it's real funny

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2006)

his was the highest grossing comedy of 2005. It ain't bad. They have a little too much of the romance plot in the film, which is sappy and occasionally slows down the picture. There's also a way-too-long montage near the beginning where we see Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn crashing a bunch of weddings that should have been way funnier. Coming so early in the movie, it had me a little worried. But, when it gets going, it is often laugh-out-loud funny. I always knew that Vince Vaughn had some real comedic talent. He's always fairly amusing in any comedy he's in, but I've never seen a movie where the material was really up to his abilities. Here, he gets most of the best material. That's almost disappointing just for the fact that he's co-starring with Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken (the latter sits on the sidelines through almost all the movie), but Vaughn manages always to keep the movie funny. Wilson, I think, is a very funny man, and he is often funny here. But he's the one stuck in the romantic plot of the film, and they don't let him be as funny as he ought to be. If the screenwriters had balanced things out a little, let both the stars work their stuff, this probably would have been the best comedy of the year. Isla Fisher is also pretty amusing as the crazy girl who falls for Vaughn. There's also an actor who appears in a cameo late in the picture who is simply hilarious, but I won't ruin that for anyone. Rachel McAdams, whom I think is the most beautiful woman alive right now, is sweet as the love interest, but, in that role, she has little to do.