Serial noceurs

There's a lot of questionable scenes in this film (watch it for yourself and you'll find out), but this might be one of my favorite comedies I've watched yet. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn have perfect chemistry, and the film takes a small idea and turns it into a 2-hour film (a good one, at that).

The Frat-Pack, are surely the hardest working collective in Hollywood. Hardly a month goes by without a movie featuring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, or those Wilson boys Luke and Owen being released.

When Starsky and Hutch paired Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller it was good, when Dodgeball put Vince Vaughn with Ben Stiller it was better, but "Wedding Crashers" could well be the finest Frat-Pack pairing to date.

Although Wilson and Vaughn have appeared in four movies together so far, this is the first where they've both taken star billing. In "Wedding Crashers", John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vaughn), are a pair of divorce mediators whose passion in life is sneaking into weddings to take advantage of the free food.. and of course score with girls.

They have a strict 'crashers rulebook', which dictates the etiquette of the pick-up, such as 'never use your real name'. It also suggests, by behaving raucously, loudly and generally being the life-and-soul, people will think you're so obnoxious, you can't not have been invited.

The pair eventually find themselves at odds with each other when John meets and falls for a bridesmaid at the Washington society wedding of the year.

Although "Wedding Crashers" is at times formulaic, the comic performances raise this movie above par and in lesser hands the main characters could have descended into Rom-Com cliché. The fast-talking machine-gun delivery of Vaughn is the perfect accompaniment to Wilson's laconic style. Their single-guy banter's often painfully accurate, as is the acknowledgement they're both a little too old to be acting so carelessly. There are also some great comic set-pieces too, notably the divorce meeting, the weddings montage, the cringe-worthy football game and the hunting trip.

The supporting cast are also an asset, Christopher Walken expertly walks the tightrope of being both broodingly intimidating and likable, while Rachel McAdams' 'Claire' has a charming vulnerability and an easy-to-fall-in love with quality. Former "Home and Away" pin-up Isla Fisher however, is less convincing.

I admit "Wedding Crashers" is far from perfect, at time situations seem too contrived, the nudity is laughably gratuitous, and Claire's evil fiancée Sack (Bradley Cooper) is an almost too heavy-handed device to make Wilson look good.

But if you can look past all that, and simply accept it for what it is, you're left with a very funny film. 8/10

An iconic comedic masterpiece. As funny as it is, it's equally as well written and well done. It's unique because not many funny movies make this much of an effort to actually be a good story line. This is a movie you can watch over and over and over again.

An excellent comedy, Vince Vaughn is a gifted comedian. He kept "Old School" going, was the only light in a dismal "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and had a terrific debut lead in "Swingers". I highly recommend people considering this movie, to watch the extras on the DVD; there is a karaoke scene at an Asian wedding which will have you rolling. It is a shame it was cut from the movie, but as the director's comments stated, "They just couldn't find a place where it would fit." I was very pleasantly surprised at the number of times I laughed out loud, a rarity for me while watching comedies. The lines were witty, the delivery was crisp, and the jokes were mostly new and fresh. Rachel McAdams was stunning, an excellent casting choice to play the object of Owen Wilson's desire. Despite the more or less rehashed plot (two guys lie about themselves to meet women, only to find that they now have a dilemma when they find 2 they really like), the film is nonetheless novel and original. There are a number of obviously stereotypical characters, (drunken grandmother, artistic introverted son, psychotic cheating boyfriend, immoral mother, powerful father), but they work in this film. Particularly the grandmother, who is prone to drunken scatological exclamations, had me laughing my head off. It was quite unexpected.

Although many of the situations could come off as contrived, they were secondary to the excellent repartee between Wilson and Vaughn. Their comic pairing worked to a T.

R.

John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey are committed bachelors who enjoy their womanising ways. They specialise in crashing weddings and picking up women for one night stands by taking advantage of their lower defences. Countless scores of women later, John is getting tired but the offer of "one last big job" tempts him back to crash the wedding of Treasury Secretary Cleary's daughter. Things go well until John falls for Claire Cleary while Jeremy finds himself trapped with the frighteningly clingy Gloria as the pair accept an invitation back to the weekend retreat of the Cleary family.

This did not appear strong enough to draw me into the cinema on its release but, on an trans-Atlantic flight it looked like being good enough to fill some time – which is actually a pretty fair summary of the film's strengths and weaknesses. I say this because it is funny enough to cover the problems that it has and thus will serve up as an enjoyable experience if you're relaxed enough to let this happen. The strengths lie in the lead two characters – they banter, they are lively and they are funny. Funny enough to cover up the fact that they are exploitative and sexual predators and funny enough to mean that the scenes where they are doing their thing are generally enjoyable. Of course it helps that Wilson and Vaughn are both doing their thing as usually and have great chemistry together – good news if you usually like them but, if you don't, then why bother? The weaknesses come in with the actual story because, every time someone has to fall in love with someone else, the laughs stop, the pace slows and the whole thing takes on a mushy air that doesn't gel that well with the banter scenes. Likewise the plot devices in the second hour tend to feel a little forced where they are just used to provide direction and create a proper ending etc. This doesn't mean it is terrible but it cannot be a good thing when you actively wish the plot would take a backseat in a film. The support cast share the comedy reasonably well; McAdams is cool and appealing, Fisher is a bit OTT but is funny, Seymour plays on her sexy image really well while Walken is reliable as ever as Christopher Walken.

Overall this is an enjoyable if patchy comedy. It trades on the usual delivery and chemistry between Wilson and Vaughn and the two do well to produce the film's best scenes when they are together. The need for a plot, romance and separation does hurt the film a little (because it is not as good as the aimless banter) but not a massive amount. Not a great comedy then but certainly good enough to please anyone who liked Anchorman, Dodgeball and other films of similar styles of humour.