Weddings, Parties, Anything

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 2017)

Two friends who have turned crashing weddings (to score free food, free booze and loose women) into an art form find their values challenged when invited to spend the weekend with a politician and his unmarried daughters in this jovial comedy starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. The two stars have excellent chemistry together and the film gets off to a great start with many funny moments to be had as they crash an extensive variety of weddings while reciting a charter of over one hundred rules to one another, such as "Rule #16: Always have an up-to-date family tree" when almost caught out. The fun slows down though when they begin to spend the weekend with the politician. Christopher Walken is solid as always as the community pillar of a man and his family are a nicely eccentric bunch, with Jane Seymour well cast as his cougar wife and Keir O'Donnell delightful as his closeted gay son obsessed with painting. The film tries too hard to have a heart in this section though and subsequently slides into formulaic territory quickly with Wilson winning a girl, losing her through betrayal and then having to win her back. The movie also rather oddly spends more time on Wilson and Vaughn talking about growing up and leaving their wedding crashing days behind than their actual crashing of weddings. It is all a tad too sweet if surely passable as light entertainment.