Two words: Vince Vaughn

Rating: 9/10 (14 July 2005)

This is funny. Not in a stupid, teenage sort of way, but rather in a purely for adults way. The opening was priceless, with the audience gasping in laughter at Vince Vaughn's comments to the divorced couple, while seemingly relating to the scene itself (obviously, the majority of the audience had been through a divorce, it seemed). The film then oddly slows down to loud music and a frenzied tempo, and although I have never experienced that kind of weirdness, I am reading Hunter S. Thompson again so I can "dig it". It finally picked up, and from there, the fun lasted until the sappy beach scene which was a little nauseating, but I think we kind of needed a rest from laughing and straining to hear every word coming from Vince's mouth.
In an Benny Hill sort of way, it was campy too, which would appeal to those over 40. This makes the film so much more attractive to a middle aged group that is not baby boomer but early gen-x. Owen is a good straight man, but has his great straight comedic moments at the right time. Christopher Walken is in enough of the movie to satisfy me, and the bedroom scene, well, that was just...so...brilliant.
But Vince Vaughn, he was 6'5" of hunk, a little meaner and more cynical than in Dodgeballand that's where the comedy really shone. My love of Will Ferrel has been replaced, finally and totally. Vince can deliver words so fast yet so clearly and also understand what he is saying! He doesn't ever break character,and he has superb timing.He doesn't look like he is having fun,he is serious,and takes his "fun" seriously in this film, which is so funny for Vince Vaughn. He stole every scene he was in, and his psycho girlfriend was an excellent match for him and when they interacted, it was magic. That bedroom scene, simply a classic.
Owen was cute, as always, with hints of his Zoolander character here and there. But to me, Will Ferrel really kind of surprised me. His character seemed old, or he looked old, actually, he looked like the "Darrin" in Bewitched! That's it! He didn't seem to really bring anything to the flick for me - he was grosser than his character in Anchorman (and I hated that movie), and really, his comedy was more of the teenage boy sort of stuff that the movie up till then really didn't portray. I was sick and tired of his physical stuff, but maybe I just didn't get that humour. I noticed that the laughter during his parts was deeper than otherwise, which means more men laughed than women. I loved him in Elf ("Does it have sugar in it? Then...YES!") and many other things, he was my favourite for a long time, but, it seemed that this part was written in strictly for him and really wasn't necessary. It is almost scary that Will has already hit the "cameo" stage when he hadn't really peaked yet - I wonder if we will see great full-time work out of him ever now.
This is a comedy for adults, for men and women, for first dates, for group outings, and for those of us who grew up in the 70's and are still cool (or at least, WE think so...).