Written by: Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
Starring: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher
Rating: [4/5]
Emotions running high leave individuals susceptible to manipulation because everything is heightened. This means anyone with the intent of manipulation just needs to know the right time and place to get to these people with weddings certainly being one of the ideal places. This becomes the scheme for two bachelors and when things take a bit of an audible it makes for incredibly hilarious situations. This ultimately makes Wedding Crashers overcome any of its roadblocks into such a fun watch.
Every wedding season, John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) crash these events when they catch wind of them for the fun of the party, but mostly for the opportunity to hook up with attendees. No wedding or tradition turns them away, but when attending their most recent one, John grows a particular fondness for the maid of honor, Claire (Rachel McAdams). He extends their crashing through their invitation to stay at the family’s estate where things take a turn for the strange.
In a broad sense, what John and Jeremy do comes as a form of manipulation seeing as they lie in regard to their connection to the wedding parties to get in and as a result get the chance to seduce women looking for love. Weddings can do that for individuals where they see expressions of love by the bride and groom and want some semblance of what they see up at the altar for themselves. John and Jeremy hope to provide the sexual component of this feeling, which feels icky but ultimately represents a consensual engagement. Participating in this type of activity indicates the pair certainly are not considering serious relationships, but the instance of hanging out with Claire’s family puts this to the test as John feels he might have found the one.
Everything happening at the Cleary home reaches absolute absurdity, but it definitely brings a hilarious cast of characters together for various shenanigans to take place. The reason they get to stay there comes when Jeremy hits it off with Claire’s sister, Gloria (Isla Fisher), who insists their father invite the pair of crashers. Jeremy, obviously, does not want to continue this because he believes Gloria’s a bit unhinged. John continues to persist with his pursuit of Claire even with her not being single and in a committed relationship with the one and only Sack (Bradley Cooper). From the family football game, the late-night encounters, the boating trip, the hunting, and everything else this film just brings so much fantastic humor that really pushes the line. Certain moments just leave you in disbelief it’s actually occurring but my goodness it works because it matches the absurdity of everything else going on. At the very least the film remains consistent with what can actually occur here.
One of the defining aspects of this feature comes in the relationship between Jeremy and John as they have been at this game for so long and have built a brotherly rapport. They gained their knowledge of how to crash from their mentor Chazz (Will Ferrell), and the hilarious rules they construct for crashing just adds to the humor. It comes with so many rules and the times they recite them to each other demonstrates these guys have really thought of every situation in which they need each other’s support. This brotherhood between the two just works so well, as well as the actors with Owen Wilson being the emotional anchor of the film with Vince Vaughn putting in the most hilarious performance of his career.
Generally, Vince Vaughn’s comedy works but he reaches a higher stratosphere than ever before here. Nearly everything the man says in this feature nearly caused tears, which comes from his delivery. From the reaction to when John speaks of a weird encounter with Claire’s mother and then trying to recuperate after a rough night, Vaughn delivers a powerhouse performance. The greatness of it appears not in trying to be in your face, but the calmness and quickness that he states everything. It comes with the appearance of being a simple performance but it works wonders in consistently driving the comedy of this film with Owen Wilson essentially having the romantic subplot to follow.
Additionally, the supporting cast also brings the heat in the best of ways with Isla Fisher turning in impressive work. Seemingly obsessed with Jeremy, Fisher’s character Gloria gets to really go for it in so many scenes and the actor absolutely eats it up. She reaches a level of wildness that serves as a wonderful counterbalance to the budding romance building between Claire and John. Certainly one of Fisher’s defining performances. The other shining supporting character is Bradley Cooper, squarely in his asshole phase of roles. Cooper knows how to boil the blood and he absolutely nails portraying a character named Sack, who knows how to show out in front of Claire’s family, but we all know this guy’s fairly terrible.
Absurd on many occasions, but such a wonderful dose of nonstop comedy, Wedding Crashers brings an incredibly fun time at the movies. It ensures these two guys get involved with quite the family and pretty much bite off more than they can chew. Each character in the feature gets their defining moment and it comes with a plethora of quotable lines to remember. It ultimately becomes about two men learning how to fall in love, even if it happens in an unconventional manner.
Films with Josh 
