A Horribly Unoriginal ROMANTIC COMEDY

Rating: 2/10 (20 July 2005)

I don't understand it. As a comedy lover, I was excited to see this movie get good reviews before it came out. "Finally," I thought to myself, " a movie that may actually pump a breath of fresh air in the stale lungs of what recently has been deemed 'comedy' in Hollywood."
I walked into the film with a bias FOR the movie after hearing so many good things about it. My high hopes were shot down in the first half hour of the film. I wanted to enjoy it. I was hoping to enjoy it. But half hour in, and I had only cracked a smile once at some minor joke.
But the audience wasn't laughing it up and I couldn't understand why. There hadn't been anything funny yet.
After unfortunately watching it against my will last night for a second viewing, I payed more attention to the five people around me and their reactions to what was going on in the film. Just as the theater audience did, they laughed at only the most obvious things:
1.A character swearing (usually Vince Vaughn)
2.The gay kid (who did crack a smile on my face when they cut to him, but this has to be one of the worst representations of gays I've ever seen in a major film)
3.Obvious physical gags - Vaughn getting shot in the butt, getting touched under the table (which was blatantly STOLEN from American Pie 3, and how many times has someone been shot in the butt in a comedy?).
4.Dated sex jokes
There was no unique or original humor, nothing that hadn't been done before. And the humor in this movie consisted of the most cliché' rehashed jokes. There is no chemistry between Vaughn and Wilson. Vaughn is the supposed 'scene stealer,' while Wilson is the more serious one, who didn't make the audience laugh a whole lot. This has to be the worst comic "duo" I've seen in a comedy.
And to add further, Wedding Crashers, like most other Hollywood films, turns into a typical "guy falls for girl who has macho boyfriend who treats her like crap and ends up falling for other guy" plot. However, this films has probably the most trite use of the macho boyfriend- he cheats on the girl, he beats up Wilson, and he seems like a nice guy until all of a sudden he's suddenly a completely different character.
Owen Wilson's monologue at the end is the worst in film and theater history. He should be ashamed of himself for degrading his status as an actor to a speech that sums up every romantic comedy ever made. And this is a romantic comedy. It fits with the same category of Adam Sandler's guy-gets-the girl garbage, as well as Julia Roberts' never-ending line of crap. I give this a 2, only for the four times I cracked a smile, which I will count as one solid laugh, and Will Ferrell's line, "What the f%#@ do you want?" because of the hilarious tone of voice he uses.
IMDb made me check a box indicating "This review may contain spoilers." However, I have not given away any spoilers. You've seen this plot before. You've heard the jokes. You've seen the guy get the girl at the end where he kisses her. And right before Owen Wilson kisses her, he utters "Would it be totally cliché' if I kissed you right now?" Yes it would, Owen. Ironically, that line is a perfect metaphor for this excuse of a comedy film.