7.20.2005

Movie: Wedding Crashers

You might well ask why I would expend my precious reservoir of social energy on a film that screamed RENTAL! in a high-pitched, feminine voice.

Your curiosity is legitimate, dear friend!

One, Owen Wilson is a devilishly likable fellow who is in plenty of bad movies, but never mails in a bad performance.

Two, Vince Vaughn still has some money left in the bank from my favorite comedy of the past few years, Dodgeball.

Three, I was feeling mellow after a fine meal of seared Ahi, and the dinner guests were insistent.

So off we went!

With my 'mainstream Hollywood release' cap firmly in place, I can give it a conditional thumb's up. The first 3/4ths of the film were ribald good fun, although the long multi-wedding montage's reach exceeded it's grasp by a good bit.

But I got everything out of it I expected- Owen and Vince have great chemistry, Vince can sell a scene with a glance, or by stumbling over a word in his delivery, and Owen is hard to beat for offbeat charm and charisma when he's got a full head of steam. There is some good supporting work too, and if the characters are underdeveloped and their motivations somewhat opaque, well, I've already mentioned my mainstream Hollywood release cap, right?

The problem (and it is a Hollywood epidemic, crossing all genres) was the third act. The souffle collapsed the minute they pinned Owen to his mark on a beach and had him deliver a heartfelt speech to the woman he's fallen for.
Minus his goofy physical charm and wiseass delivery, he's just a guy with a really weird nose.
Framing and lighting him like Robert Redford circa The Way We Were isn't doing him or the audience any favors.

There were few moments of genuine levity from that point on (one involved a brilliant uncredited cameo by one of my favorite comedians, who shall remain nameless on the off chance someone actually sees this in the theater) as the filmmakers strained to keep the car on the road. And once the audience can sense the huge effort involved in being funny, the game's over.

It had the usual problem of a Hollywood comedy- the overriding need to have the characters end up seeming respectable, upstanding, and above all sympathetic to Joe and Jane Sixpack drains the life right out of the film. It's become so endemic that I routinely discount the ends of comedies when I rate them- the courage to end a comedy on an offbeat but perfect note like the one in Some Like it Hot seems to be extinct.

But overall, well worth watching. It has some really, REALLY funny bits, and the leading men keep all the plates spinning merrily in the air for the majority of the runtime.

My one gripe is this: since when do two pairs of bare tits and some marginally raunchy visual jokes make a film a cause celebre? You can't watch a goddamn entertainment news show without hearing how "brave" they were for accepting the R rating and not cutting it for PG-13. If that's bravery, what accolades do the producers of a movie like Beach Girls (which had more tits in its TRAILER than Wedding Crashers had in its entirety) deserve?

Has the culture war in this country reached the point where a four second cameo by a senator in the scandalously R-rated Wedding Crashers needs an explanatory appearance on The Tonight Show?

Judging by John McCain's appearance with Leno last night, the answer is "yes".

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude - im sad I cant get goatse as a personalized license plate - someone already took it
: (

- g

baxie said...

"fan" is perhaps too strong a word.

Given the spavined, wizened square footage of my house, I can hardly escape splash damage when the wife tunes in for her nightly dose of celebrity.

r/e goatse:

could you get 'tubgirl'?

Anonymous said...

yes.. yes I can...

Anonymous said...

Hey this blog is not about wedding favors catalogs. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on wedding favors catalogs and it brought me to your blog on this post. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog baxie and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I will snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff on here that interested me. Keep blogging away :-)

Anonymous said...

Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. baxie I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on discounted wedding favors and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across this post but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to discounted wedding favors. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching discounted wedding favors. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from discounted wedding favors I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at discounted wedding favors. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching cherished wedding favors. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from cherished wedding favors I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at cherished wedding favors. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

Well I just got back from the gym and I am beat. I am currently doing some research on country wedding favors and stumbled across your blog. Which cracks me up really. The internet can certainly land you off base sometimes. Even though this post is not completely related I think it is a cool blog. I have read back through the archives and lots of people make some very good points. Well I have been on-line forever it seems. I need to continue to plug away at country wedding favors. If you have the energy swing by country wedding favors. I try to update my site weekly and maybe you will see something you like. I already snagged your URL and put it in my favorites. If you do not mind I will be back again. Great job!

Anonymous said...

What up baxie! I just finished up a ten hour work day and decided to kick back and do some surfing. So I grabbed myself a drink and stumbled across your blog while doing some research on kim anderson wedding favors for a upcoming project I am doing. Well even though this post isn’t what I was looking for I really enjoyed reading your blog. Your doing a great job and please keep up the good work. Lots of people do not keep their blogs up to date :0) There are some very interesting view points stated here. Anyways I am going to grab the bull by the horns and continue to plug away at kim anderson wedding favors. I have already bookmarked your blog. You many want to visit me at kim anderson wedding favors. You never know you might see something you like! Again great job

Anonymous said...

Hi baxie your blog is really great! Wow :-) As I was out blog surfing and surfing the web for detailed info on cherished wedding favors I stumbled across your blog. Obviously my search landed me here and it is a little off subject compared to this post, but I am certainly glad I did come across your blog. Did I already tell you I like it! If you would not mind, I would like to add your link to my "favorites" page to come back and read again sometime. Should you ever need it, there's lots of information on this site about cherished wedding favors. Again, great blog and keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is WOW baxie. The other half and I just got back from our friends house (well her friends house) and I needed a huge break. I am working on a project right now that is based on cherished wedding favors. I have literally been on-line for 2-3 hours doing research. Even though this post really isn’t on the same page as cherished wedding favors I am certainly glad I came across your blog. There are a ton of great view points on this blog. Well I think I can here the kids screaming in the background. I put you in my internet favorites and I will certainly come back and visit. If you want to take a peek at my site you can find me here at cherished wedding favors. I update my site very frequently. Again, great job blogging and I will be back again soon!

Anonymous said...

Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. baxie I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on discounted wedding favors and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across this post but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to discounted wedding favors. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching country wedding favors. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from country wedding favors I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at country wedding favors. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

Hi baxie your blog is really great! Wow :-) As I was out blog surfing and surfing the web for detailed info on discounted wedding favors I stumbled across your blog. Obviously my search landed me here and it is a little off subject compared to this post, but I am certainly glad I did come across your blog. Did I already tell you I like it! If you would not mind, I would like to add your link to my "favorites" page to come back and read again sometime. Should you ever need it, there's lots of information on this site about discounted wedding favors. Again, great blog and keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Hey this blog is not about country wedding favors. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on country wedding favors and it brought me to your blog on this post. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog baxie and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I will snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff on here that interested me. Keep blogging away :-)

Anonymous said...

Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. baxie I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on wedding favors for kids and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across this post but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to wedding favors for kids. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching mexican wedding favors. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from mexican wedding favors I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at mexican wedding favors. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

I have been on-line searching for hours for information regarding kim anderson wedding favors and stumbled across your blog during my journey :-) baxie your blog is really amazing! Keep up the great work. Obviously my search on kim anderson wedding favors was way off when compared to this post and find it funny how it landed me here. The internet is a funny thing. Anyways, great job on your blogging and keep up the good work! I been searching for kim anderson wedding favors for over 2 hours and needed a break from it. I started reading your blog and really started getting into it.
P.S I will add you to my favorites so I can come back and visit later
P.S.S If you want to bookmark my site I am at kim anderson wedding favors. You never know you may find some good deals!

Anonymous said...

Hi baxie your blog is really great! Wow :-) As I was out blog surfing and surfing the web for detailed info on wedding favors catalogs I stumbled across your blog. Obviously my search landed me here and it is a little off subject compared to this post, but I am certainly glad I did come across your blog. Did I already tell you I like it! If you would not mind, I would like to add your link to my "favorites" page to come back and read again sometime. Should you ever need it, there's lots of information on this site about wedding favors catalogs. Again, great blog and keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Hey this blog is not about western wedding favors. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on western wedding favors and it brought me to your blog on this post. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog baxie and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I will snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff on here that interested me. Keep blogging away :-)

Anonymous said...

Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. baxie I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on labels for wedding favors and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across this post but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to labels for wedding favors. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching kim anderson wedding favors. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from kim anderson wedding favors I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at kim anderson wedding favors. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

Hey baxie. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching wedding favors for kids. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though this post is way off base from wedding favors for kids I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at wedding favors for kids. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work

Anonymous said...

I have been on-line searching for hours for information regarding wedding favors catalogs and stumbled across your blog during my journey :-) baxie your blog is really amazing! Keep up the great work. Obviously my search on wedding favors catalogs was way off when compared to this post and find it funny how it landed me here. The internet is a funny thing. Anyways, great job on your blogging and keep up the good work! I been searching for wedding favors catalogs for over 2 hours and needed a break from it. I started reading your blog and really started getting into it.
P.S I will add you to my favorites so I can come back and visit later
P.S.S If you want to bookmark my site I am at wedding favors catalogs. You never know you may find some good deals!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is WOW baxie. The other half and I just got back from our friends house (well her friends house) and I needed a huge break. I am working on a project right now that is based on mexican wedding favors. I have literally been on-line for 2-3 hours doing research. Even though this post really isn’t on the same page as mexican wedding favors I am certainly glad I came across your blog. There are a ton of great view points on this blog. Well I think I can here the kids screaming in the background. I put you in my internet favorites and I will certainly come back and visit. If you want to take a peek at my site you can find me here at mexican wedding favors. I update my site very frequently. Again, great job blogging and I will be back again soon!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is WOW baxie. The other half and I just got back from our friends house (well her friends house) and I needed a huge break. I am working on a project right now that is based on wedding favors catalogs. I have literally been on-line for 2-3 hours doing research. Even though this post really isn’t on the same page as wedding favors catalogs I am certainly glad I came across your blog. There are a ton of great view points on this blog. Well I think I can here the kids screaming in the background. I put you in my internet favorites and I will certainly come back and visit. If you want to take a peek at my site you can find me here at wedding favors catalogs. I update my site very frequently. Again, great job blogging and I will be back again soon!