Wedding Crashers – Review

The day was sunny. The temperature warm with low humidity. It was a holiday. What better day to go to the movies?

OK, it’s not your conventional movie going day, but it was good for us.

Helaine asked me to decide between Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin. Neither of us wanted to make the choice. On the phone, my friend Peter made it for us. “Wedding Crashers,” he said, and that’s what we saw.

Good choice Peter. This was the best movie I’ve seen in years.

By now (the movie’s been out for some time now) you probably know the story. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn crash weddings in order to pick up women. Everything goes well until they go to one wedding and both fall in love. That’s not what wedding crashers are supposed to do.

There is nothing in this script you haven’t seen before. There’s no plot turn that isn’t predictable. It makes no difference. You don’t care. The movie transcends the plot.

The success of this movie is all about Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Their chemistry is as good as any I’ve ever seen on screen. And, they are both very likable.

Their back-and-forth, often praising, often denigrating, was effortless and seamless. Some of that goes to well written dialog, but I don’t really think you can coach or direct this kind of repartee. It’s more organic.

The rest of the cast was pretty good as well, especially Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams and Henry Gibson.

Recently, Gibson has made himself a good living playing Henry Gibson. Good for him.

Not in the credits, but heavily featured, the currently overexposed Will Ferrell. I understand why he was there. I just don’t approve. And though I like Henry Gibson playing Henry Gibson, I’m not happy with Will Ferrell doing the same&#185.

At about two hours, this movie is too long. Unfortunately, nearly every movie is too long.

Note to Showcase Cinemas… If I see the Charlie Sheen pre-show short about movie theater restrictions one more time, I will march up to the screen and start reciting along with the actors as if it were the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

&#185 – Before the movie began, we saw a trailer for “The Man,” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. Levy, whose work on SCTV ranks among television’s all-time best, may be approaching the saturation point in playing Eugene Levy. Samuel L. Jackson has earned a lifetime pass after “Pulp Fiction.”