Not a bad flick but falsely advertised

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2006)

Must say this movie let me down. The way it was marketed, it was billed as being another Old School, another sophomoric raunchfest. It was, for about 15 minutes.
So I heard about a movie starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn (spoiler, Will Ferrell is in it as well). These guys have been part of some of the funnier movies of the past five years. So why would this one be any different? You have three of the fab five (Luke Wilson and Ben Stiller being the others). and more often than not, these guys hit the mark. With movies such as Bottlerocket, Starsky and Hutch, Dodgeball, Zoolander, and the aforementioned Old School, any movie that has at least two of these guys is usually a winner. They stay away from that Hollywood sentimentality and just have some good old fashioned fun. Not the case this time.
Here, you see two wedding crashers, crashing weddings, then they go for the ultimate crash; going after the daughter of the Treasury Secretary. (By the way, you don't see the married couple much after the wedding). Sounds like it'd be a good time. The actual wedding scene, specifically the toast by the maid of honor, was very discomforting. Were they trying to make a statement there, it seemed legless.
So after the marriage, the crashers are loved by the secretary's family (mainly the can't get enough lovin daughter), so off they go for a weekend getaway. The football scene, though kind of cheesy, was funny, due in large part to Zack, played by Bradley Cooper. He's great as the arrogant boyfriend of the knock em dead gorgeous Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams). And the nymph daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher) was fun as well, though she looked like she should be wearing a cap and gown for her high school graduation (can't believe she's nearly 30).
But this movie really became mopey after a while. The whole time Owen Wilsons character grew more and more irritating. "Oh, I've known this girl for three days and now I'm in love with her." Please, you're a gigolo, go get girls. I wanted to see the party antics of a wedding crasher, I didn't care to witness him finding out that he's errored in his past ways. But that's what I got.
Might I add that Jane Seymour has aged like fine wine. Her character is rather naughty throughout and to see her look that way in her mid 50s, wow, she's been counting her carbs since being a Bond girl. Sadly, Christopher Walken is a non factor in this movie. He's actually a very good comedic actor when he's not acting like Beelzebub. His lines were limited and he lacked the presence that he normally has. And frankly, playing a major US secretary, you'd think the guy would stand out a little bit more. Somehow he gets upstaged by two party crashers, no wait, make that one, one of them became a total sap.
The movie certainly started with potential. The beginning party scenes were a good time but they jumped back and forth so much that you missed the fun and they were over entirely too quickly. So yes, I must say it again, I was a bit let down by this movie. Even the ending credits had loud party music that would have been fitting for a party movie. And Vince Vaughn didn't seem as Vaughnesque this time. He was pretty funny but his acting got really campy at times (especially during the "bedroom" scene). He usually plays a wisecracker, and he had his moments, but I wouldn't classify this role as vintage.
This movie could be a breakout role for Rachel McAdams. I don't know how good of a comedic actress she actually is, you don't see that from her in this flick, but she has a face and presence that lights up the screen. I'm sure she'll be relegated to romantic comedies (which this film essentially became) but nevertheless, she has a bright future ahead. Will Ferrell added some spark to the movie but his character seemed like a self-parody. He's a guy that's at the top of his game but he's running the risk of becoming clichéd. True, it's made him a rich man, but I do see signs of his gimmick growing tiresome.
POSSIBLE SPOILER
I think my biggest problem with this flick is that it has an identity crisis. At times, like the first 15 minutes, it's a party movie. The guys are drinking, dancing, sleeping around, and throughout the movie, you see the party side come up. But somewhere during this project, a Hollywood exec got the idea that one of the crashers had to see his errors and meet a woman that would change him. And please, would any decent girl want a guy after finding out he's a fraud? (Well, maybe they would). The meltdown of Wilson's character before that was somewhat believable, it's easy to go insane over a girl, but I found it kind of disturbing. The final scene summed up the movie; awkward, confused, and in the end, unsatisfying.
So I don't think the movie knew its audience. It was marketed as a party movie but grew into a frustrated love story that couples could enjoy. I don't mind love stories but that certainly wasn't what I expected watching this flick. There was a fair amount of T&A mixed in and since this is the 21st century, some homosexuality had to be mixed in (that scene was pretty funny, though it didn't completely hit the mark). I hope the next time Vaughn and Wilson collaborate, they remember their audience. Some of the movies I mentioned at the start were funny because they didn't get sidetracked by a hokey love story. They were films that were meant to entertain. This movie could have been that, should have been that, but in the end, it wasn't.