(www.DVDTown.com)
Director:
David Dobkin
Cast:
Owen Wilson……….John Beckwith
Vince Vaughn………. Jeremy Klein
Rachel McAdams……….Claire Cleary
Christopher Walken……….Sec. Cleary
Bradley Cooper……….Zack
Isla Fisher……….Gloria Cleary
Jane Seymour……….Mrs. Cleary
Ellen Albertini Dow……….Grandma
New Line Cinema presents Wedding Crashers. Written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. Running time: 128 minutes. Unrated.
The movie:
The 60’s had the Rat Pack. The 80’s had the Brat Pack. Today we have the Frat Pack. 10 years ago, Ben Stiller directed The Cable Guy, a dark comedy staring a stuttering Jim Carrey. Ace Ventura’s name may have been on the marquee, but the movie had Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson in small, supporting roles. That film was just the tip of the iceberg for these three frat guys. Soon the group would add Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell, and their plan for world domination would commence. Okay, not really. But since 1996, there have been 17 different films where at least two Frat Pack members make an appearance. Even so, it would be hard to classify movies such as Meet the Parents and Around the World in 80 Days as Frat Pack-friendly.
No, if you want to see the six perform some high jinks and a bunch of nonsense better stick to some of the essentials: Zoolander, Old School, Dodgeball, and Anchorman.
I never understood the whole “Frat Pack craze”, but I would rather sit through a movie like Dodgeball (still my favorite of the bunch) than have to watch a marathon of Rob Schneider duds. Which brings me to the newest addition of the Frat Pack home library: Wedding Crashers.
Last year the movie was a phenomenon, breaking every box-office record for a comedy. Raking in 200-plus million while in theaters, the movie’s a throwback to the R-rated comedies of the seventies and eighties. Those with gratuitous nudity and plenty of profanity – basically the Porky’s approach for making a motion picture.
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are friends who live life like it’s one big wedding reception. When they aren’t acting as mediators for divorced couples they spend their days at parties with phenomenal finger foods, and a buffet of sexual delights. Wedding announcements in newspapers, to them at least, are like reading the contents of a horseracing form. They research to determine which weddings have the best bang for the buck, if you get my drift.
So they crash weddings, enjoy the free food and booze, and sleep with a different woman every night. How do they do it? Well, they never attend a wedding in the same neighborhood, and they change their names and personality traits for each function. For one reception they may be Shamus O’Toole and Bobby O’Shea or they may be charter members of Oprah’s book club. By following the 115 rules of crashing weddings as bestowed upon them by Chazz Reinhold – no relation to Judge – they are the life of the party, if for only one night.
After a fun wedding season montage to the Isley Brothers’ “Shout,” John is feeling a bit worn out. Like a woman who’s been working as a waitress all day, his voice is a little horse and his feet hurt. John is tired, and he wants to take a break for a while. But Jeremy surprises him with an announcement that is comparable to the Kentucky Derby of weddings; the oldest daughter of the US Secretary of Treasury (Christopher Walken) is getting married. The event is so huge neither John McClain nor James Carville could pass it up. Not wanting to take a trip to negative town John agrees to help his friend crash the biggest wedding of the year.
The two disguise themselves as owners of an emerging Maple Syrup conglomerate from the state of Vermont. Sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but the two never break character. Doesn’t matter though, since their ambition is to eat, drink, and be merry. Jeremy likes to showoff on the dance floor with the senator’s youngest daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher). John does a whole Dionne Warwick-Psychic friends routine with Claire (Rachel McAdams), the Senator’s other daughter.
At first their strategy to romanticize the senator’s daughters seems to be working, but then the plan – and the film – goes astray. The first two-thirds of Wedding Crashers is a sophomoric riff on bachelorhood with two guys who like to live in the now, and not worry about tomorrow. But the two change over the course of the movie. Whereas one crasher, who wanted to call it quits, falls truly, madly, and deeply in love with one of Clearys; the other wants to get far away from the proceedings.
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn fit into the shoes of their characters without fuss. As John and Jeremy, they are essentially con men that devote three to four months out of the year to act out as wedding crashers. An interesting hobby, yes. An interesting movie, no. The problem is in the third act. It brings the comedy to a halt, giving screen time so that one of the crashers can win the heart of his true love. Not that there is anything wrong with that, however the script seems hackneyed.
Despite its appeal to the throngs of people who spent their 10 dollars to see it in theaters, Wedding Crashers is far from a great comedy. It’s entertaining to some degree – with the strong comedic pairing of Wilson and Vaughn – but it’s not reinventing the wheel or anything. It’s a shame the writers couldn’t give more lines to Christopher Walken’s character, or embellish some of the supporting stars. Walken could have easily chewed the scenery a bit more and upstaged the two Frat packers if given the opportunity.
Score: 5/10
The DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen)
This New Line Cinema release has a very good transfer. The only disparity in quality I noticed is the scene in which Jeremy and Gloria are making out on the beach. The images on the water and background are inconsistent, containing a grainy picture. There are also a few spots in the print, but you have to watch the screen closely to notice anything.
Score: 8/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
(English Dolby 5.1 Surround, Stereo Surround)
Mainly driven by comedy bits and the crazy situations John and Jeremy get themselves into, the sound is nice and clear. Rolfe Kent’s musical score is a change of pace as it has a nice orchestra touch. You don’t really hear that in any of the other Frat Pack comedies. The music used in the movie, Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay among others, highlight this sophomoric romp by David Dobkin.
Score: 8/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Deleted scenes, commentaries, and more!!!
The DVD sports two versions of the Wedding Crashers. One version is the original R-rated theatrical cut; the other is an Uncorked version that is longer, wilder, and funnier. Well, that’s what it says on the packaging anyway. By selecting the Uncorked option you are able to see eight-and-a-half more minutes of wedding shenanigans take place. Jeremy acts as a deaf guy for one quick scene, and the senator’s creepy, gay artistic son is introduced much earlier. There are more scenes, but these two stand out in my mind.
Getting to the special features portion of the DVD, the first extra are four deleted scenes, with the option to listen to the director’s comments. The most significant deletion is the “99 Red Balloons” scene. It has been talked about over the Internet, but I don’t understand its significance. For the scene Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are doing a karaoke rift of the classic 80’s medley. Stumbling over lines, Wilson is trying to sing the opening verses of Def Leppard’s “Rock of Ages”, and Vaughn is trying to do “the running man.”
Next we have two commentary tracks. Director David Dobkin has first say on what happened during the shoot of Wedding Crashers. During his track he talks about the reaction shots of the characters and how it adds to the punch line. The art of subtext. It was Owen’s idea for Jane Seymour to say “pervert” after he felt her hooters. In casting the role of Claire Cleary, Rachel McAdams was the last person Dobkin tested.
While Dobkin’s track is more on the technical side, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s commentary is a bit sluggish. It takes a while for them to get going, but after they tell stories about meeting John McCain, the two start to open up. For those who want to impress your friends with unique movie trivia, you can tell them “Cocksman”, a term Vaughn uses at the Cleary wedding is a phrase from The Last Picture Show, which was written by acclaimed author Larry McMurtry, who co-wrote Brokeback Mountain. Whew!
Moving on,featurettes are all the rage for the next set of special features.
The first featurette is Event Planning (11:34). The extra uses quick sound bites and video to show a small piece on the five weddings that were staged to be crashed during the first week of production. The director had on hand a real wedding coordinator overseeing each wedding for the movie. This included receptions that were Chinese, Hindu, and Italian in nature. Near the end of the feature, the major stars praise Dobkin’s direction and talk about whether or not they have ever crashed a wedding.
The Rules is a seven-minute piece where Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn discuss some of the rules of crashing weddings. The golden rule of watching Wedding Crashers: no talking. The old rule of wedding crashing: “Make sure she’s single.” New rule: “Make her single.” Nothing major is revealed in this featurette because the next extra tells you everything you wanted to know about crashing weddings, but were afraid to ask.
The Rules of Wedding Crashing is a 24-page gallery of the rules as written by Chazz Reinhold. Some of the memorable quotables are, “Occasionally bring a real gift – you’re getting sex without having to buy dinner, you can afford a blender.” Or, “The unmarried female rabbi – is she fair game? Of course she is.”
The only other extras on this release is the film’s teaser and theatrical trailer; sneak peeks for other New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. releases; and promotional commercials for Budweiser beer involving Wedding Crashers.
Score: 6/10
