Formula weddings and an autopsy

Rating: 6/10 (1 August 2015)

The first time I saw "Wedding Crashers," I thought it was fun. So I watched it again, and wow. Never in my experience has a movie shown its formulaic structure and cheap laughs faster or more thoroughly than this one does upon a second viewing. By the third viewing-- which I did purely out of curiosity-- I felt more like I was autopsying the movie than watching it.
The heroine, Claire Cleary, is the key to this movie. She is the only believable character, and Rachel McAdams is one of those rare actors who can generate chemistry with almost anyone. She's the female equivalent of Mark Ruffalo: engaging and expressive actors, simultaneously exuding strength and vulnerability, intelligence and emotion, all of it in a fully integrated way.
The rest of the characters-- with the exception of Christopher Walken, who manages to bring dignity to his role as patriarch-- are stereotypes, and despicable stereotypes at that, though the strong cast almost brings it off-- hence the relatively healthy 6 rating. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan are overgrown juveniles, though Wilson's character is made redeemable by virtue of his love for Claire. Vaughan is always up to verbal comedy, and here he handles physical comedy well enough, too. A good thing, because he gets wounded in football, again in a hunting accident, an old lady fires a shotgun at him, and Claire's sex-crazed sister (Isla Fisher) gives him a handjob at a family dinner, then later ties him to the bed so she can have her way with him. Later that same night, still tied up, Vince becomes the toy of another stereotype, the brother, a gay artist. The least effort went into the creating the grandmother (Ellen Albertini Dow, 92 at the time), who is a standard a foul-mouthed old woman, the mother (Jane Seymour), a horny middle-aged woman, and the weary-of-white-folks servant (Ron Canada).
The most thankless role, without doubt, belongs to Bradley Cooper as Owen Wilson's nemesis, the insufferable fiancé of Claire. That she would have anything to do with him is perhaps the least plausible part of a movie that is almost wholly without credibility. He's worse than Will Farrell because Farrell's character is never anything but preposterous. As the aging lech who concocts the scheme to seduce bridesmaids at weddings and mourners at funerals, he is played wholly for cheap laughs-- the standard modus operandi for his ilk, the over-rated and under-talented SNL alumnus.
The movie is, of course, also predictable. Formula films are. A lot of talent went into this, but the writers and filmmakers aim to make every scene outrageous, with McAdams as the quiet heart of this desperate, frantic comedy. That she makes you care about her is no small feat.