Vinny V Is On Fire

Rating: 6/10 (24 July 2005)

This is a tough one to review. 'Wedding Crashers' has too many plot-driven scenes where no one acts in a remotely realistic way. But it's pretty funny (and, for once, the studio didn't wuss out and remove all the profanity & nudity). The unique talents of Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour, and even co-star Owen Wilson are almost completely wasted. But co-star Vince Vaughn is hilarious and he steals his own movie (if that's possible). There are an equal number of bads & goods in this flick and director David Dobkin isn't creative enough to minimize the wrong ones while maximizing the right ones. But I laughed.
Unless you have a chemical aversion to the fast-talking ingenuity of Vince Vaughn, you'll LOL too. His scenes with Isla Fisher (a cute fling who becomes a comedic psycho) pile up and the story requirements rob us of seeing Vaughn do more zany things with buddy Wilson. The early scenes are great---with their clever scheme to bust in on weddings and score with lonely women at the reception---and I wanted more of that selfish hedonism. The two man-children are at their best when they're putting people on. The climax requires sincerity and it's handled nicely enough. Give me more of the "I wish I had the guts to pull that stuff" screwiness, though.
Wilson's scenes with young stunner Rachel McAdams carry the plot. He falls for her at her sister's wedding and gets himself & Vaughn invited to the family home for the rest of the weekend. They're cute together, but Vaughn is the charming rogue of this picture, humorously fending off advances from more than 1 member of McAdams' screwy family. Not even daddy Walken can maintain control of his kids. There should have been more wedding crashing in 'Wedding Crashers', although the movie certainly doesn't need to be any longer than it already is. The movie is flawed, but Vinny V in particular is a ton of fun.