I don’t usually make a point to do full-blown reviews of movies. Mostly, I just leave the little mini-reviews over on the right. But, this movie deserves something else.
I love great comedies from the juvenille to the sophisticated. I can laugh at Stripes, The Birdcage, Annie Hall or Tommy Boy with equal joy. I even have a list of my favorites. This movie could easily crack my top 10.
I’ve liked Vince Vaughn for a while. He has a great comic sensibility that reminds me a lot of Bill Murray. This movie is, by far, his best.
The premise of this film is that two friends and co-workers set out every year to crash weddings as a way to meet and sleep with women who are high on the feeling of new love. Vaughn and co-star Owen Wilson have schemes designed to give them access to virtually any ceremony and bed any bridesmaid.
Wilson, playing his usual slightly-more-sensitive-than-his-partner role starts to tire of the business and is even more troubled when he falls for the daughter of a powerful politician played by Rachel McAdams.
The two play off of each in way typical of the best pairings in great comedies. Like a cross between the Murray/Harold Ramis team in Stripes and the Michael Keaton/Henry Winkler combo in Night Shift, Vaughn and Wilson have exceptional chemistry and perform as if they have been doing this together for years.
The first two-thirds of the film had me laughing almost constantly and literally crying from laughter at several points. That is pretty rare for me. The entire theater laughed right along with me and applauded the ending, something you don’t often see at a comedy.
It’s rare that I am this quickly enamoured of a comedy. It usually takes me three or four times through to really appreciate all the one-liners and subtle moments. But, this was an instant classic for me and a must-see if you love a good comedy.