Wilson + Vaughn = Unmissable (well, most of the time)

Rating: 7/10 (10 September 2005)

After playing second fiddle to Ben Stiller in Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch and Dodgeball, Vince Vaughn (who also had a supporting role in Old School, which starred Luke Wilson) and Owen Wilson (Luke's brother) finally get to carry their own Frat Pack movie, and the results aren't as sharp as when Stiller's involved. Why? Probably because Wedding Crashers is a romantic comedy - albeit of the weird kind - and therefore things tend to get messy from a strictly narrative standpoint, especially in the third act.
The story is about two divorce mediators, John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vaughn), who spend their free time going to as many weddings as possible (uninvited, of course, otherwise it would be no fun), so they can drink free booze and seduce as many hot chicks as possible. Things get complicated at the latest wedding, when John falls in love with the Treasury Secretary's (Christopher Walken) daughter (the simply wonderful Rachel McAdams), while Jeremy ends up with her sister Gloria(Isla Fisher, hilarious). From there on, hell breaks loose, be it in the form of hunting trips, kinky nighttime sex games or horny middle-aged mothers (that would be Jane Seymour).
The real heart of Wedding Crashers is Wilson and Vaughn: one provides the sweet stuff (though not in a sickly way) thanks to good chemistry with McAdams, the other goes straight for the belly-laughs and scores gloriously, most memorably in the already classic family dinner scene. From the very beginning, when an Animal House-like montage shows their MO, it's clear their very real friendship is the main reason to see the movie, which manages to be one of the funniest films of 2005 for about 50 minutes.
What happens then? Well, the script runs out of energy when it has to tie everything up, and so we get dull subplots and a Will Ferrell cameo which, while fun, was clearly added because there was nothing else to do. Hell, even Christopher Walken appears to be clueless in the final act. Fortunately, the ending doesn't get too sloppy thanks to, you guessed it, Vaughn and Wilson. Next time, though, a little more care during the writing process wouldn't hurt.