Wedding Crashers

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are business partners and best friends. They have a unique scheme to crash weddings and bed unsuspecting young hot women. When they crash the wedding of the season, John falls completely for bridesmaid Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams) breaking all the rules. Jeremy must submit to her sex-crazed sister Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher) as his loyal wingman.

The concept is great. Some of the jokes work but some really don't. This movie rises with the guys' chemistry. Vaugh's got the manic rantings, and Wilson's got the boy next door charm. Together they form the perfect bromance. And that is the big takeaway from this movie.

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are life-long friends who have made a hobby out of lying to get into wedding receptions, where they pick up vulnerable women with even more lies. Their plans to crash the upscale wedding of a high-profile politician (Christopher Walken) go awry when John falls in love with the politician's daughter (Rachel McAdams) and the two guys end up spending the weekend with her family…who just happen to be completely nuts!

Wedding Crashers is easily the funniest film of 2005. It's constantly hilarious and it's not completely immature. The premise is pretty creative and original. The film is not just filled with cheap jokes and toilet humor. There's actually a pretty mature love story to be found here as well. In all honestly, the script isn't that great but the film works really well because of the cast. The actors bring life into their characters and most of them give funny performances. Vince Vaughn is the true star of Wedding Crashers. His over the top performance is very funny. Some people may find him annoying though. Owen Wilson also gives a funny performance. He just wasn't as good as Vince but he holds his own. Together, Vaughn and Wilson have great chemistry and really make their scenes with one another really funny.

Rachel McAdams is one of the best young actresses working today. She appeared in three movies in 2005 and this one was the best. Her performance is pretty good and it's so easy to love this girl. Christopher Walken does his usual routine and he gives an okay performance. He isn't as funny as everyone else though. Isla Fisher is also another talented young actress. She comes out of no where and gives a very funny performance. Jane Seymour is underused which is too bad because she's pretty funny. Bradley Cooper was okay, nothing really special though. Not all of the film is perfect. I think the running time is too long. Long comedies rarely work out and while this one does, it could have still been edited. Also, the ending is kind of cheesy which is okay but a little unexpected. Will Ferrell makes a cameo and let's just say that it was not needed. It wasn't completely bad but he seemed to be trying way too hard. I really think that he's just an average comedian and nothing really special. One last thing, the film is pretty funny yet it doesn't have that great of a repeat value, at least for me. In the end, Wedding Crashers is worth checking out. Rating 8/10

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.

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

Wedding Crashers is the latest installment in the new, over-the-top comedies cut from the same cloth as Old School or Meet The Parents. It will take it's rightful place in history along side these great comedies as it deserves.

Business partners John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are also best friends that go way back. Every year they get together and go on a binge of crashing weddings to take advantage of the romance in the air and ultimately, to score with the jealous bridesmaids, or any other single woman for that matter. John and Jeremy are very smooth and do a lot of research to get a back-story that explains who they are, how they are connected to the families and why they are there. They also have what seems to be at least a hundred rules to ensure the crashing of the wedding goes as planned and of course, this could not be possible without the original wedding crasher, Chaz (Will Ferrell), who is not only THE wedding crasher, but also an innovator, as you will see.

This all works very well for them until they decide to crash the wedding of weddings, Secretary Cleary's (Christopher Walken) daughter and her new husband-to-be. John was unable to achieve his goal at the Cleary wedding of establishing a relationship with his other daughter, Claire (Rachel McAdams), who he is also falling in love with. Jeremy, too, is having his problems after achieving his goal with the Secretary's other daughter, Gloria (Isla Fisher), perhaps a bit too quickly, as he finds out it was her first time and she quickly attaches herself.

The long story made short, both John and Jeremy end up on an extended weekend with the Cleary family and hilarity ensues, very much the same way Ben Stiller was put in uncomfortable positions by his fiancé's family in Meet The Parents.

This was a great comedy in which I have heard compared to There's Something About Mary. I would not place it on such an iconic platform but it was very good and holds it's own along with other great comedies of today. Vaughn and Owen are a great team. Will Ferrell is typical Will Ferrell in his small bit part as Chaz. Christopher Walken's part was too small to really be noticed. Isla Fisher played the psycho first-timer in such a way that it even scared me.

The biggest surprise of this movie for me was Rachel McAdams. I took notice of her in Mean Girls and I believed she would be typecast in such roles for probably her whole career but she proved she could carry a movie as the lead love interest and was very captivating with her gorgeous smile.

If you liked the movies mentioned in this review, then I highly recommend seeing this one as well. It will not disappoint. 8.5/10