Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn recently crashed the summer box office with a comedy about two guys who like to crash weddings to pick up girls. While performing the crash of all crashes at the wedding of the daughter of the secretary of the treasury (sorry for all the “of”s), Wilson falls for the bride’s sister (Rachel McAdams). Let the raunchy sex scenes ensue!
If this is your mentality going into “Wedding Crashers,” then expect to be disappointed.
We are the generation that grew into adulthood on a healthy diet of “American Pies,” and for an audience that has seen a suburban father walk in on his teenage son humping a hot apple pie, watching a woman “rub one out” for Vince Vaughn at a packed dinner table might seem a little old hat. While hilariously filmed, that scene — in which Isla Fisher giddily massages Vaughn’s Dockers-clad crotch — hardly qualifies as “raunchy” (at least not in the blue states).
So, ladies, don’t believe the ads. The movie actually is rather sweet. Endearing, even.
Wilson offers up an outstanding audition for “leading man” status in future Hollywood romcoms, and Vaughn finally finds the role through which he can channel all of his rambling musing on life, love and relationships — to hilarious effect.
After successful turns in “Mean Girls” and “The Notebook,” McAdams further hints at an impressive range and is the only one to pull off actual acting in “Crashers.”
But, then, this is exactly the way you want it. Vaughn gets to play “Vince Vaughn” (a less insecure and slightly less horny version of his character in “Swingers”), and Wilson gets to play “Owen Wilson” (a slightly less blond version of his character in “Zoolander”).
However, if you haven’t seen the making-of specials that have been flooding cable TV for the past two weeks, each giving away all her funniest moments, then you’ll find that it is Fisher who steals the show as Claire’s sister, Gloria. Her guileless, certifiably insane daddy’s girl provides the perfect balance to Vaughn’s verging-on-psychotic womanizer.
In supporting roles, Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour play Claire’s politico parents. Excepting the scene in which Seymour forces Wilson’s character to call her “Kittycat,” both actors are underused. They probably had more lines in the original script, but the editors seem to have cropped down their roles in favor of showcasing more of Vaughn and Wilson’s well-honed improv skills.
