Merry Christmas one and all. Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated...
Merry Christmas one and all. Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated. An accountant by day and a random reviewer by night I am not a professional writer, nor do I have any ambitions to be I guess I am just opinionated.
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Written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, and directed by David Dobkin, Wedding Crashers is a movie about two singletons that use the ‘love’ associated with weddings to pull their next conquest. This is a review of the film only.
Plot
Divorce mediators, business partners and life long friends John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughan) have developed a novel way to get notches on their bedposts. The pair have discovered that weddings are the easiest place to bag the next conquest, therefore their spare time involves gate crashing weddings and pulling one lucky (or unlucky lady) for one night only.
The pair live by one golden rule but this is broken when the pair end up gate crashing the wedding of Kathleen Cleary (Jayne Seymour), daughter of William Cleary (Christopher Walker), Treasury Secretary. Despite being attached the chief bridesmaid, Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), becomes the focus of John’s attention and his mind is made up that she is going to be the one. Meanwhile Jeremy is stuck with Claire’s younger sister, Gloria (Isla Fisher) who turns out to be a bit of a handful.
John and Jeremy manages to win over the Clearly family and gets invited for a family weekend retreat. Jeremy’s reluctance is the result of abiding by the golden rule where as John strays and follows his heart, as well as the dysfunctional Cleary family to their palatial waterside retreat where both he and Jeremy, who decided to fully support his friend, endure many comical mishaps and mini adventures.
Will John manage to woo
Claire or will her brother get in their first? How will Jeremy deal with the redhead cling on he was lumbered with?
Characters
The cast list is huge and there are loads of ‘background’ actors used in this movie. However, as well as the key actors (as described above) there are loads of other actors that have a significant role including;
i) Keir O’Donnell – Todd Cleary ii) Bradley Cooper – Zachary Lodge iii) Dwight Yoakham – Mr Kroeger iv) Rebecca De Morney – Mrs Kroeger v) David Conrad – Trap vi) Ron Canada – Randolph
The other characters have a much lesser role but all of them do a great job in supporting the main cast, who obviously steal the limelight. None of the supporting actors gave amazing performances and, other than Keir O’Donnell, none of them gave memorable performances. Despite this nothing can be taken away from them.
I only remember Keir O’Donnell because he landed the role of Claire and Gloria’s brother who had a really good side story that resulted in some very funny (and hence memorable) scenes. I think O’Donnell was very lucky. He wasn’t amazing in the role and I can think of many other actors that could have done just as good a job, if not better, than O’Donnell did.
Opinion
The Wedding Crashers is yet another feel good film where things start out bad (although I don’t think that John and Jeremy’s lifestyles are that bad) and then get better, take a turn for the worse and then improve once more at the conclusion. Whilst the story is unbelievable and unrealistic (but this is Hollywood after all) as well as predictable this does not make it un-enjoyable. This movie is watch-able and whilst it will never win an Oscar (it’s too late now in any case) or, in my opinion, ever be considered a classic it is entertaining and worth watching providing you are in the right mind set and in the ideal circumstances.
This movie has just the right mix of schoolboy jokes/banter and meaningful love scenes. During the banter scenes this movie rolls along at a nice pace, but it slows right down again during the love scenes.
I think that Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson are two great actors and both have appeared in some very funny, as well as some very age, movies. In particular I am a Vaughan fan since his performance in Old School was just fantastic, although a lot of this was helped out by the onscreen relationship he shared with Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson, both of whom don’t actually appear in Wedding Crashers.
Vaughan and Wilson’s performances aren’t outstanding and anything to shout about but their on-screen relationship is endearing, believable, cosy and shows what a true friendship should be like based on trust and loyalty. It is fantastic and gives you that warm feeling like movies of this genre should.
Rachel McAdams and the rest of the female cast do a good job, although not outstanding, in supporting Vaughan and Wilson, who are obviously the stars of the movie. That said my favourite character has to be Gloria “the Bunny Boiler” played by Isla Fisher.
In my opinion Isla steals the lime light. Not only is she stunningly beautiful (I have thought this from the first time I saw her in Home and Away all those years ago (just to re-iterate she is actually older than me so there’s nothing perverse about this statement)) but she is really comical (I wonder if she has she been taking lessons from her partner – Sacha Cohen Baron?) and her performance is just fantastic.
Whilst I have never been the subject of a bunny boiler’s attention nor do I know anyone that has, if I were asked to picture how one would act then I would describe Isla’s performance in this movie. It is very entertaining, very comical and she can be credited with the funniest scene and the best one liner in the whole movie with the “I’ll find you” [followed by a disturbed and demonic laugh]” scene.
Compared to other films, such as The Last Samurai or the Lord Of The Rings. the cinematography in this movie can be described as poor. Compared to other films, such as Spiderman or Gone in Sixty Seconds, the action scenes in this movie can be described as very poor. Compared to other films, such as House of the Flying Daggers or Braveheart, the audio in this movie can be described as very poor. However, all of these things are to be expected for a film in what I would call as the ‘feel good’ genre.
Conclusion
This movie may not have the most believable or best storyline, the best acting, the best cinematography, the best audio or be the most action packed but it does have one of the best on screen relationships I have ever scene. It is not the best, I think this has to go to Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, but it does come close.
It is the endearing relationship between Vaughan and Wilson, the electric relationship between Vaughan and Isla Fisher and the forbidden relationship between Wilson and Rachel McAdams that makes this movie so good and one that I would recommend.
I wouldn’t recommend it for a boozy lads night in nor would I recommend it if you are in the mood for something deep and serious, however if you want a film that you can chuck on, and relax on the sofa with your other half with then this would be an ideal choice.
Other
Run time – 119 minutes Certificate – 15 9 Award wins and a further 8 nominations
(Originally posted on Dooyoo under the name of Yackers1)
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Production Year: 2004 - Comedy - Director: John Hay - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimi Mistry, Kate Miles, Dougray Scott
The surprise comedy smash of 2005,Wedding Crashershas a resolutely simple set up. You take ... more
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, cast them as a pair of thirtysomethings who spend their weekends gatecrashing weddings, and put them in search of female company wh...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
More Footage And More Laughs make this Uncorked Edition comedy the most raucous party of ... more
the year!Guided by a set of wedding crashing rules, John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) can charm their way into any wedding...and into the ...
The surprise comedy smash of 2005,Wedding Crashershas a resolutely simple set up. You take ... more
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, cast them as a pair of thirtysomethings who spend their weekends gatecrashing weddings, and put them in search of female company wh...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Even more funny bits you didn't get to see at the cinema! Divorce mediators John Beckwith ... more
(Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are business partners and life-long friends who share one truly unique springtime hobby: crashing weddings! Whatever...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: A reasonable plot, and some truly humourous moments Disadvantages: No real soundtrack and slightly predictable
christianfilmcritic 03.09.2007 (03.09.2007)
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Review of Wedding Crashers (DVD)
![Wedding Crashers - Uncorked [DVD] [2005]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78508363.jpg "Wedding Crashers - Uncorked [DVD] [2005]")
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