A gleefully raunchy, R-rated comedy with a fantastically funny midsection bookended by a slightly less-than-satisfying opening and closing.
Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson are in top form, riffing off each other like over-caffeinated jazz musicians as a pair of buddies obsessed with crashing weddings for the free booze and easy access to scads of vulnerable, available women. The movie is absolutely hilarious (in a disgusting, post-Farrelly Brothers way) during its extended middle, as Wilson and Vaughan experience a wild weekend at the home of a powerful politician (Christopher Walken) and his proverbial family from hell, culminating in a dark night of the soul that fuses After Hours, American Pie and the Marx Brothers.
Wedding Crashers drags on for far too long and has problems reconciling the despicable things its characters do with the affection we're obviously supposed to feel for them. But, for at least half of its running time, it also manages to be the funniest movie of the year. Also stars Rachel McAdams and Jane Seymour.
Wedding Crashers (R) opens July 15 at local theaters.
1/2
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2005.