In short: This
bouquet’s being thrown at the common Joe, not Joe
reviewer.With Ben Stiller out buying a bottle of black hair
dye, Owen Wilson
has Vince Vaughan be the sidekick proxy in the effervescent new comedy
– and the change in guard is as welcome as a sweet-smelling
kitty
litter tray.
The former is John and the latter’s Jeremy
– together, they
regularly crash weddings. Regardless of the race throwing the wedding
–
be it Jewish, Italian, Irish, Chinese, Hindu – they always
intermingle
into the revelry giving wild speeches, charming the guests, and
romancing their women.
At the tail end of another thriving season of toasting brides
and
grooms, Jeremy learns that the offspring of Treasury Secretary William
Cleary (Christopher Walken) and his wife Kathleen (Jane Seymour) is
getting married in what is sure to be the Washington, D. C. social
event of the year. After infiltrating the lavish affair, John and
Jeremy quickly set their sights on bridesmaids Claire (Rachel McAdams)
and Gloria (Isla Fisher) Cleary.
Quickly falling deeply in love with Claire, John convinces
Jeremy to
stay at the family’s palatial waterfront estate for the
weekend. It’s
there that they get a lesson or two about love and life, and have a
profusion of heretical run-ins with the dysfunctional Cleary clan.
Like any of their other efforts together – or with
regular cohorts
Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller or Jack Black – Vaughn and
Wilson’s latest is
pretty much as expected. It has a couple of great laughs, some
high-spirited performances, but on the whole, is a pretty thin yarn.
Like many of the funnymen’s other efforts, the jokes become
few and far
between, and by the film’s middle it tends to get a little
monotonous.
As soon as we reach the moment in Steve Faber and Bob
Fisher’s
screenplay where John falls for Claire – the jokes stop, and
the banal
mushy third-act kicks in.
On the plus side though – it’s Wilson and
Vaughn, and they’re always
a blast to watch. Wilson’s essentially the straight-man here,
so
doesn’t get as much to do, but Vaughan’s a riot
– seemingly channelling
his Swingers
character in a few spots and playing it welcomingly
over-the-top.
In the support roles, Rachel
McAdams (The Notebook)
is
a little out-of-place (she looks like she’s walked off the
set of a
poignant romantic drama and onto a T’n’A comedy
clunker) and shares no
chemistry with on-screen love interest Wilson, but she’s
still adorable
as hell and for the most part, does the trick. Better is Australian
actress Isla Fisher (“Home and Away”) stealing
scenes as the
nymphomaniac senator’s daughter who clings to Vaughn.
Fisher’s done
wonders with a role that might otherwise have been unexceptional and
easily forgotten in another actors hands.
Funnily enough, it’s Will Ferrell, in an
over-the-top cameo as a
veteran Wedding (and Funeral) Crasher that’s the
film’s low point – his
appearance falls flat, and his embroidered performance just steers the
film off-course.
On the whole, and much like a ‘Wedding’
itself, Crashers isn’t
a
bad time. It starts to get a little boring near the end –
much like a
reception, after the speeches are said and done and so on –
but has
such likeable hosts that you can’t help but keep watching.
