A difficult movie to rate

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2019)

I love the premise of Wedding Crashers but I've never been able to watch it to the end. Two friends Jeremy and John (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) spend their summers breaking into strangers' wedding ceremonies and parties to have a free good time, eat, drink and meet women. You'd better believe there are people in the real world who do this! But I think this movie veers too heavily in the 'gross out' direction, when it could have been a little less zany and more of a narrative. The men, as usual, are the stars and drivers of the narrative, and the women are more side-players. Which is a pity, because Rachel McAdams, as Claire, the bridesmaid that John falls for, is very intelligent and could have played a bigger role. On the other hand, I tired of Isla Fisher as Gloria, the kooky sister of Claire, who starts to stalk Jeremy after snaring his interest at her sister's wedding. Fisher goes way over the top in her obsessions, and it gets annoying. I really like Vince Vaughn and he has a ball with his 'strange guy serious about this bizarre lifestyle' schtick. I also like Owen Wilson, who always plays Owen Wilson, the happy-go-lucky slacker who is up for anything. It's a little disturbing to see how the friends lie to, charm and then bed so many nice women, then discard them - it gets a bit creepy, to be honest, and maybe wouldn't be portrayed the same these days. I'm grateful to the editors for casting Christopher Walken as the super preppy politician father of the bride - he's just a gem and loves playing this part. I also love the montage of all the different weddings that Jeremy and John attend - Jewish, Italian, Chinese, Irish and Hindu. It shows that they all have things in common - great food, nice clothes, music and big groups of people out to have a really good time.