Crashes and burns

Rating: 2/10 (23 February 2006)

Decent cast, good word-of-mouth and a no-beating-about-the-bush beginning, this was shaping up to be an amusing ride. It wasn't. The Xerox of a script, unimaginative structure and flat gags stretched to breaking point make Wedding Crashers a crashing bore. If Christopher Walken can't liven up your movie, nobody can.
I like Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn even more, yet surely they can spot a duff script between them? For a comedy with an ostensibly good heart, it spices up a worrying number of its jokes with swearing. Profanity is my middle name, but even I know what's f****** funny and what isn't.
And when will people realise that Will Ferrell isn't as funny as he thinks he is? Elf showed that he does have talent but increasingly he relies on self-conscious mugging and overplayed idiocy. Natural comedians aren't desperate for laughs - this guy is just a circus clown who got lucky. Rather than having me clapping my hands with glee, his appearance had me clapping them over my eyes.
Overlong, over-familiar and over-praised, this movie made me feel very, very tired.