Monday, July 25, 2005

To have and to hold ... at least for tonight: "Wedding Crashers"

What are the two most glorious words anyone can hear at a wedding? Not "I do," but "open bar." Hey, I liked my wedding more than any others, but it was a bit of a drag to duck out at midnight when there was more drinking, dancing and debauching to be done. The price you pay for growing up, I guess.

Given that its two stars are just a few years older than me, "Wedding Crashers" is right in my wheelhouse. That must be why everyone I know went to see it opening weekend, while the missus and I didn't catch it until last Saturday. We also had to get an extra-large drool cup for her, as her naked lust for Owen Wilson knows no bounds. Well, except good taste. Seriously, check out that schnoz, honey! He looks like an extra from "Raging Bull."

Our plot: Wilson ("Anaconda") and Vince Vaughn ("Domestic Disturbance") play divorce mediators who serially crash weddings and lie their way into women's beds. At the Mother of All Crashes -- the wedding of the Secretary of Treasury's daughter -- both guys go after the bride's two sisters, with Vaughn ending up with a psycho while Wilson chases his dream girl. That chase leads our heroes to a weekend at the family's vacation house, where hijinks ensue.

Those hijinks, and the antics leading up to them, are mostly funny, and even if "Old School" is still the standard for this crew -- I know, I know, I covered that a couple of posts ago -- "Wedding Crashers" kept me laughing for a solid hour or so. Hell, the premise itself was pretty hard to resist when I first saw the trailer several months ago. Unfortunately, the movie goes on for almost two hours, pulling in another member of the gang and crossing into Emotion Town, where sophomoric humor is forced to take a backseat.

It's too bad, too, since Owen and Vince are pretty funny on the front end. Christopher Walken ("The Prophecy 3: The Ascent") is solid as usual, although he doesn't get much to do beyond apeing De Niro from "Meet the Parents" (also featuring Owen Wilson in a smaller but funnier role). Another good turn comes from Isla Fisher, who I never heard of but does a fine job as Vaughn's crazy love interest. (You can kind of see how he's torn about her, although family dinners will never be the same.)

Ultimately, this movie had a lot of good stuff but just couldn't stick to the tried-and-true rule of (a) not getting too "deep" and (b) not going too long. If this were only 95-100 minutes long and less sugary at the end, it would have made a worthy companion to "Old School." But maybe that's nitpicking. After all, it's not any movie that have Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (Jane Seymour), ordering someone to grab her breasts. You just can't put a price on that.

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