Erasmus finally caught a movie the other day, and it was the silly comedy Wedding Crashers. Erasmus enjoyed it and was pleased to see that, in so far as it had a message, it reflected upon the desirability and seriousness of marriage.
Owen Wilson & Vince Vaughn are the eponymous crashers, who happily exploit the romance and anxiety among unmarried young ladies at weddings in order to bed them. Then love catches up with them, and they outgrow their superannuated callowness. Wilson & Vaughn do their usual shticks—and well: Vaughn in particular hasn't seemed this animated since Swingers. But the movie ultimately works because of the female leads, Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher. McAdams invests her character with a depth and reality that makes it clear that what hangs in the balance in the world of love, romance, marriage, is ultimately of profound consequence, investing the comedy with a real rooting interest. Fisher is the comic gem of the movie, executing one hilarious turn after another with a mad, adorable gleam in her eyes.
Some criticisms can be leveled: When Vaughn's terror of Fisher turns to attraction, it's merely stipulated in exposition, not shown (a single scene before showing them sharing a glance would have sufficed). The comedy in the movie is sharpest at the beginning, tapering off towards the end. Jayne Seymour's character (the young ladies' mother) isn't coherently motivated and disappears halfway through the film.
Nitpicking notwithstanding, Wedding Crashers was a couple of the more pleasant hours Erasmus has spent in a theater of late.
Placet.
