Wedding Crashers (Uncorked)

Hire Vince Vaughn!...Hire Vince Vaughn! Oh wait, success! Vince Vaughn stars as Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn), the guardian of a set of rules handed to him by the mysterious Chas, which explain what a man must do to successfully crash a wedding, principally for the bedding of women. Alongside John Beckwith (Owen Wilson), a longtime friend and business partner, Klein crash Jewish, Italian, Chinese and Irish weddings, any wedding, in fact, simply to meet attractive young women, particularly bridesmaids and have one, but only one, night of passion. But something's up with John and after one wedding too many, he sounds tired and in need of a rest from crashing.

Like an old lag, though, Klein is planning on one last great crash at the marriage of the daughter of William Cleary (Christopher Walken), the US Secretary of the Treasury and potential presidential candidate. With Jeremy having worked out the plan of the crash, he and John pose as venture capitalists and distant relations and set about romancing two of the bridesmaids - Jeremy sweeps the beautiful but slightly disturbed Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher) off the dance floor and down to the beach whilst John falls for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), who, it is revealed, already has a boyfriend. John won't give up, though, and is prepared to break The Rules to pursue Claire, dragging a reluctant Jeremy with him to the Cleary home, where the closer John gets to Claire, the more likely it is that she'll see through his act. But having been shot in the ass, almost knocked unconscious during a game of touch football and being pursued both by Gloria and her brother Todd Cleary (Keir O'Donnell), an increasingly uncomfortable Jeremy can do little but keep on repeating the rules to himself in the hope that John might actually take note of them.

In a film that's embarrassingly truthful at times, the scene near the end when it is suggested to John Beckwith that he ought to think about crashing a funeral created mixed feelings in this viewer - revulsion, yes, that Beckwith could consider going so low but the part of my brain that's still connected to the memories of my bachelor years was thinking, "Y'know...that's not a bad idea. There's gonna be one single woman, at least!" It's that same gallows humour that has you looking through the obituary columns in the local paper and sizing up the recently deceased when you're in need of a new, or only once-worn, suit. And there's simply so much truth in the idea of crashing a wedding to meet women that it ought to strike a chord with at least half of its audience, who're likely to be nodding in agreement at the oft-cited rules. Not, however, that any one of us, I suspect, have ever carried it off with as much style as Klein and Beckwith do here but who hasn't looked at the reunion party of a class they never attended, at a wedding in a hotel of two people they don't know or, yes, at a funeral and thought of slipping in quietly through the back door.

It's testament to the ease with which Wilson and Vaughn step into the roles of Beckwith and Klein that director Dobkin guides the audience into the film with a long montage of scenes from various weddings before Beckwith lies back on a bed and, I'm guessing, having been unable to either satisfy himself or the girl that he's with, sighs with feelings of boredom and frustration. That moment gives the film the opportunity to change its mood and to live up to the romantic part of it being a romantic comedy. The difficulty that Wedding Crashers has is in taking its two leads with it as this early part of the film leaves them looking unsympathetic and out for no one but themselves. Even the camaraderie between Beckwith and Klein feels a little false with one only being there to give backup to the other during their wedding crashes. Of course, it may be that one casualty of the film's need to cut to the chase, literally so with Beckwith's pursuit of Claire Cleary, is in presented more of a background to these characters but Wedding Crashers carries enough hints to say that although these two work and socialise together, neither of them appreciate their friendship. At least not until they step out of the characters that we thought we knew and show a sensitivity that they had only been faking until meeting the Clearys.

Without giving it away, the early laughs in the film, which are a little patchy, give way to moments that will have you wiping away the tears. Gloria's wandering hands at the dinner table provides one of the funniest moments in any DVD release this year - and having just reviewed Airplane!, that's saying something - as does her seduction of Klein during that night. The homophobic grandmother plays out in contrast to Todd's homosexuality, whose interest in Klein actually ends rather sweetly, if never actually consummated. As such, Wedding Crashers isn't afraid to embrace the romance that falls out of its premise but, equally, it lets the laughs ebb and flow in between with both Vaughn and Wilson giving the film much comedy value as well as a heart.

I'll not say much more other than to let you know that it's best to approach Wedding Crashers with an open mind and without really knowing what to expect. In watching it for this review, I really had little idea about the film and found it all the more enjoyable because of it, being genuinely surprised at the various twists in it, some of which are obvious, others not. For a comedy, which rarely drift over ninety minutes, Wedding Crashers is quite a long film but has a natural rhythm that means it doesn't ever feel dull. Suffice to say that Vaughn confirms his position as one of the best comic actors working today, Isla Fisher can do more than appear on the front of various lad mags and that crashing a funeral does seem to be an awfully bad idea.

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Transfer

The Uncorked version of the film looks to have been branched off the Theatrical Version, which saves space on the disc and allows much space for the near-two-hour film. The picture quality, though, drifts between excellent and being merely alright but I suspect this look of the film on DVD has much to do with the original cinematography rather than any faults in the transfer - external shots are uniformly great whilst interiors are a little flat.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track serves its purpose but you're unlikely to notice anything from the rear channels than ambient sound effects. With this being a romantic comedy, though, that's hardly surprising and Wedding Crashers shouldn't be penalised because of it. Otherwise, the film, extras and commentaries are subtitled in English.

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Extras

Commentary (1): Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn appear together on this commentary and to say that it's not scene-specific would be something of an understatement. The two, who sound as though they're firm friends, basically use the recording of this track to reminisce about the filming of Wedding Crashers, to talk about their first meeting and early work, their schooldays and their current whereabouts in the world. It's an easy listen but you don't learn very much about the film - I think that's probably why the commentary from David Dobkin has also been included - and although that's not really a problem, I can't imagine ever coming back to this a second time. Vaughn and Wilson clearly had a great time but I can't imagine the listener/viewer feeling the same.

Commentary (2): If the cast commentary barely mentions the film, this one by David Dobkin more than makes up for it, given that he positively flows over with information on the making of the film. There can't be much regarding Wedding Crashers that any viewer could possibly feel they don't know after listening to this and although it's slightly on the dry side, Dobkin keeps his track light, busy and as far from being serious as he can. Don't be fooled, though, by the different introductions to the commentary for the Uncorked and Theatrical versions as apart from Dobkin's opening sentence, they're exactly the same track.

Deleted Scenes (7m22s): Not the footage that makes up the Uncorked Edition but additional deleted scenes that flesh out the characters, top and tail the post-wedding get-together at Cleary's and conclusively reveal that neither Wilson nor Vaughn can hold a tune. The four scenes in question are Cleary Tests John (1m50s), Jeremy Consoles John (56s), Bluefish (1m42s) and 99 Red Balloons (2m53s). All of this footage comes with an optional commentary by director David Dobkin.

Event Planning Featurette (11m36s): Given that planning a wedding is often cited as being one of the most stressful events in someone's life, imagine organising five in a week and each one different. Thanks to Wedding Coordinator Lovelynn van der Horst - oh, and Magic & Balloon Consultant Michael Stellman - that's what the makers of Wedding Crashers did for the montage that opens the film. van der Horst and Stellman are on hand to reveal the secrets of staging a wedding in this feature that starts well but eventually turns into a straight behind-the-scenes PR piece.

The Rules Featurette (7m28s): Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are interviewed together in this discussion of the rules of crashing a wedding, backed up by footage from the film.

The Rules Of Wedding Crashing: In a companion piece to The Rules Featurette, this extra is twenty-four pages of the rules by which John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey go to work. Having seen such lines as Breakfast Is For Closers, Your Favourite Film Is The English Patient and No 'Chicken Dancing' - No Exceptions, it brings back many memories from my own days of bachelorhood. "Mention the new haircut! Girls love that!"

Trailers: Two are included here - a Teaser Trailer (1m23s) that sets up the basic premise of the film and a Theatrical Trailer (2m27s) that does no more than simply expand on the teaser.

Soundtrack: As well as a track listing of the accompanying album, complete with previews of the tracks linking to footage from the film, this also includes the video for Circus (3m07s) by The Sights.

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Overall

As for the differences between the Theatrical and Uncorked Editions, there aren't many obvious ones. There appear, for example, to be a few more naked breasts in the Uncorked Edition during the film's opening montage and the language may be a little less suitable for a children's party but, otherwise, not even consecutive viewings gave away what separates one from the other.

But an Uncorked Edition - or Unrated, which, being honest, is what they'd really like to call it - is not really what Wedding Crashers is about, despite it being an adult comedy. Unlike American Pie, for example, there's no drinking semen gags and what nudity there is from Isla Fisher appears to have made use of a body double. Instead, it's more that Wedding Crashers requires one to have lived a little to fully appreciate it as well as to understand why John Beckwith feels as he does and how, despite he and Jeremy Klein looking as though they're living the life that almost all young men aspire to, he grows tired of it.

These notes of maturity are a good turn in a film that's funny, surprising and very charming and with a well-stocked disc and a good transfer, Wedding Crashers is as welcome as Beckwith and Klein are, initially at least, at the Clearys.