Wedding Crashers: Funny but Weak

After hearing about it since it was first released to the big screen, I finally rented Wedding Crashers last night, curious to see for myself what the hype was all about. I've always been a huge fan of Vince Vaugh, whose performances are always diverse and well-delivered, and Owen Wilson isn't all that bad, either.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I was definitely surprised. In crude American Pie fasion, The Wedding Crashers tells the story of two young guys, John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey (played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) who have spent their entire adult lives trying to sleep with women at weddings, which is a hobby next to their careers as divorce mediators.

They attend both the wedding and the reception, during which time they scope out the attending parties and choose women that they find physically attractive. Between building balloon animals for children, dancing with the flower girl, giving touching toasts, and claiming to be war heros, they manage to finagle their way into some unsuspecting girl's pants no matter where they go.

The problem at this point in the story is that there is no empathy for either character - both John and Jeremy are men who don't care about the feelings of the girls they hurt, and who will stop at no end to satisfy their lustful desires. The briefly consider that their actions are immoral, but the thought is dismissed as quickly as it was spoken.

After the first scene - which is a fifteen-minute collage of all the weddings that they attended and all the girls that they bedded during 'wedding season' - Jeremy brings to John's attention the ultimate wedding to crash: the powerful Treasury Secretary(Christopher Walken playing Mr. William Cleary) is hosting a wedding for his daughter. John's argues against the intelligence of crashing such a high-profile wedding, but they eventually agree to do it.

At the wedding, posing as the children of an estranged Uncle Ted, John and Jeremy meet the sisters of the bride. While Jeremy chases after the stunning red-head named Gloria (Isla Fisher), John engages in conversation with Claire Cleary, played by Rachel McAdams.

John learns that Claire has a boyfriend, but that doesn't stop him from trying to get to know her, and it becomes obvious that he is interested in more than sex. Meanwhile, Jeremy convinces his red-headed vixen to sleep with him on the beach, after which she tells him that she was a virgin and that she loves him.

As I said before, it is difficult to feel empathy toward either one of the main characters, as they have spent so much time using women at their leisure. They are invited to spend the weekend at Mr. Cleary's beach house, and what ensues is a long-running series of unfortunate incidents that leave Jeremy tied to a four-poster bed, molested under the dinner table, knocked senseless by over-zealous football players, and generally abused by this woman who has gone Fatal Attraction in the worst way. John has been thwarted in his attempts to woo Claire, and both men are frustrated by the beginning of Day 2 at the beach house.

The two men have told the Cleary's that they are relatives of the groom, and that they are successful investors from the east coast. Claire's boyfriend, Zack ("Sack"), is determined to obtain information about them, because he sees that John is after his girlfriend. He calls a friend and asks him to run a background check on John and Jeremy, and proceeds to insult and belittle the two men as often as possible.

Meanwhile, it seems that Claire is having second thoughts about her pending engagement to Zack, and when she and John take a bike ride in the afternoon, she kisses him on the beach. That night, Zack and Claire announce their engagement, much to John's amazement and sadness.

That evening, Jeremy decides that he is "turned on" by the psychotic redhead, and Zack hears back from his friend, who tells him who John and Jeremy really are. After they are kicked out of the beach house by the stalwart Mr. Cleary, John goes off the deepend in his depression, and Jeremy continues to see the redhead.

I won't spoil the ending for those of you who haven't seen it, but I will say this: the movie changes directions from scene to scene up until the very end. It is disjointed in places, with weak subplots that never seem to pan out. For example, Claire's younger brother is a "gothic artist" who is obsessed with death and who is very obviously gay. He comes onto Jeremy at one point in the movie, but you never hear about it again. Claire's mother, played by Jane Seymour, attempts to seduce John, and makes him "feel her up" during a gratuitous breast scene.

The movie was released on DVD with the theatrical version as well as an "Uncorked" (unrated) version, and the only difference between the two seems to me the amount of topless women. Though it does have a few great scenes - mostly Vince Vaugns rapid speeches about love and marriage - the plot was not very cohesive and the characters were extremely flat.

I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys empty laughs, and who feels no need to become attached to the characters. As I said before, it is comparable to American Pie, but without the engaging characters and, of course, without the pie.