The urge to mate is a primal one and the one, arguably, over which we as a species have the least control. In pursuit of such a goal, much energy has been expended, including wars. John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) The heroes of the WEDDING CRASHERS have simplified the process in a way that is not only diabolically obvious, but it also nets them champagne and, if they’re lucky, crab cakes, not to mention a steady stream of bridesmaid booty.
The title of the flick gives it away. They do a little research on the family, construct reasonably believable personas, and then proceed to become the life of the party, slipping into an impressive variety of cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions as easily as they slip a bridesmaid out of her lingerie. And what with the veritable torrent of tender feelings bubbling over in the hearts of the single women there at the sight of two people pledging their eternal love for one another, getting lucky isn’t so much possibility as a sure thing. Of course, love has nothing to do with what John and Jeremy have in mind. It’s strictly exploitation, which makes wedding season even better than Christmas for them. And considering that they ply their trade as mediators in divorce cases where the promise of true love has fizzled, badly, it’s almost excusable.
All good things must end, though, and so it is for John and Jeremy, as John turns pensive, in a suitably shallow way, after a less than satisfying conquest. Jeremy, though, has discovered the Holy Grail of weddings to crash, the daughter of Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary (Christopher Walken), and he convinces his partner-in-seduction to join him for just one more big score. It’s a fateful decision as each of them meets his match, John with the comely Claire Cleary (Rachael McAdams) and Jeremy with Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher projecting a delicious mix of innocence and psychosis), whom he classifies as a stage-five clinger. In a story that hearkens back to some of the better screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, events become progressively more peculiar and the characters become progressively more dangerous and by that I mean via violence, affection, or both.
Forget the trash-talking matriarch (Ellen Albertini Dow) of the ersatz Kennedy clan in which our boys find themselves ensconced while breaking one of the cardinal rules of crashing. Forget the amorously predatory mother-of-the-bride (Jane Seymour) brandishing her latest, ahem, improvement. They, along with some thuddingly slow spots in the script, are forgivable. It’s more than compensated for by the stars. Wilson is sweet and cuddly in his insincerity, and Vaughn is so delightedly sleazy that his joy in his own ruthlessness is infectious. Walken has ratcheted down his innate oddness, pitching at the perfect level to play Washington politics and keep an eye on his daughters in the face of all comers, and to turn a baleful eye on his spiky, neo-Goth son in hopes of somehow turning the raccoon-eyed whiner into a political asset.
The reason a film about such calculating, cold, and basically unlikable characters works isn’t just that they get a comeuppance that is not only poetic, but also one that would make the Dali Lama himself chuckle in approval. No, it’s because for all their self-serving cynicism, these guys have hit upon a basic truth about the whole mating dance that can’t fail to strike a chord. When Jeremy delivers a succinct deconstruction of the theory and practice of dating as a fake, forced, awkward intimate situation, even the most die-hard romantic might experience a frisson of recognition. That’s the standard for most of the writing here. It’s not pretentious, there are things done to Vaughn’s character under the table at a family dinner that is anything but sophisticated, but it has more than its share of smarts and a goofy cheerfulness that allows things like the bondage, beatings, and food-tampering to work with the smidgen of sentiment that the story demands to have worm its way in without seeming too maudlin. WEDDING CRASHERS is an exercise is nicely played absurdity. It’s laugh out loud funny and one of the diciest date movies ever.
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