NoFace for Film

Title: The Wedding Crashers
Year: 2005
Director: David Dobkin
Starring Cast: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn
Rated: R

NoFace For Film rating: 4 out of 7

When I first heard about The Wedding Crashers, people were heralding it as a sign of the return of naughty, R-rated comedies. So when I rented it, I expected a lot of raunchiness similar to The 40-Year-Old Virgin. I also expected it then to be as funny. Although I enjoyed it, neither of my expectations were quite met.

The story is about John (Wilson) and Jeremy (Vaughn) whose favorite summer hobby is to crash weddings to meet lonely women. Their meticulous scheming pays off constantly, as they bed a different woman week after week.

When the two men read about the upcoming nuptuals of the daughter of the Secretary of Tresury (Christopher Walken), they consider it as the ultimate challenge and decide to crash that wedding. Unexpectedly, John starts to actually fall for Claire (Rachel McAdams), one of the Treasury Secretary’s other daughters. This development threatens not only John and Jeremy’s fun-loving lifestyle, but their friendship as well.

Overall, the story is funny. The fun really begins when John and Jeremy are invited to the Secretary’s vacation home for the weekend. There they encounter many strange but hilarious situations with the Secretary’s kooky family members. He has a horny, oversexed wife named Kitty (Jane Seymour), a depressed, artist son, and a very hot but psychotic third daughter who excites and terrifies Jeremy at the same time. Most of the funny scenes involve Jeremy, who tries mightily to fend off the brother and sister’s sexual advances towards him. Meanwhile, Kitty schemes to get her Mrs. Robinson claws (yeah yeah, bad pun I know) on John.

However, it’s not as funny as I expected. While the characters were funny, some are cliche. The horny, married older woman who goes after the innocent young man. The sweet little old grandma with potty mouth. The asshole boyfriend. Been there, done that. Also, it was kind of sappy at times, with John’s attempts in wooing Claire. It was cute, but I was in the mood for funny, obnoxious comedy, not a romance. Although Virgin also involved a romantic relationship, there was enough silly, obnoxious guy comedy that made it funny and watchable. Therefore, while I wouldn’t mind watching Virgin again and again, I don’t really feel like watching The Wedding Crashers again anytime soon.

As for the so-called “raunchiness”, to be honest, I saw none. Granted, there are some naked boob shots early on during the wedding montages, and sure there are some bad words, but other than that, The Wedding Crashers is pretty tame, compared to The 40-Year-Old Virgin. In fact, it’s really a romantic comedy disguised as a frat boy comedy.

Wilson and Vaughn are in fine form as best friends Jeremy and John. As members of the frat pack, you can see their friendship shine through in more serious and tender moments of the movie. Vaughn is great as usual with his trademark rapid-fire delivery of lines. Wilson as well, playing John with a disarming sweetness that any girl would love.

The Wedding Crashers is a nice movie to rent if you’re in the mood to watch a romantic comedy with some frat boy flavor.

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