Love, like movies, is about taking chances

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2005)

Caught between a 7 and an 8, I'm taking the lower number here just because the material here is so unchallenging for Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. I realize this is like saying Michael Jordan was too good, but in the movies, especially in romantic comedies, actors must take chances, otherwise there is no tension. Even in a silly picture there are plenty of opportunities to say something about the romantic condition, and while Wedding Crashers wants to say something, it ultimately chickens out, lest it offend the mostly married or coupled people who will buy tickets. It's a great premise with two brilliant comic actors. You will have a good time as the script is one gag after another. It's got Christopher Walken and a cameo by one of the Wilson/Vaughn clique that I won't give away because he truly is funny here. I'm sure every one will choose their favourite line or gag (Grandma calling Eleanor Roosevelt a rug muncher, the touch football game, etc.). But my main criticism here is that the little details are not tended to. For example, when the two leads have a falling out, why don't they see each other at work? Why include the scene when the boyfriend hires private investigators to find out who Vaughn and Wilson really are when it turns out it's the priest who rats Vaughn out and Wilson was ready to come clean with the Rachel McAdams character. Just because the filmmakers wink at clichés, does not mean they aren't still clichés. Why does the stock boyfriend character get so much screen time establishing him as evil when that was established just perfectly with the touch football game and his nauseating stories about scallops and sea otters. We get it, he's a dork  now back to the gags. For a movie called Wedding Crashers, too much time is spent away from both weddings and crashing. Story lines seem to be brought up and discarded (eg. the opening scene shows the two mediating a divorce, but their occupation is never brought up again; Rachel McAdams' family loves sailing, there is a short sailing scene, which turns into hunting. They never said anything about the family loving hunting. It's just an excuse for a lame ass gag). Vaugn and Wilson know better. They've been in Swingers and Bottle Rocket respectively, comedies that stayed true to their premise. That may have meant fewer kicks to the groin, but it made for superior movies.