WEDDING CRASHERS — ** 1/2 — Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams; rated R (profanity, vulgarity, sex, violence, nudity, drugs).
"Wedding Crashers" mixes sappy sentiment with crude R-rated sexual material, which makes for a sweet-and-salty movie snack.
As the "American Pie" movies have proven, that formula can be fine for a 90-minute comedy. Unfortunately, "Crashers" lingers around for two full hours as if it's some sort of cinematic feast or four-course meal.
It also runs out of steam about halfway through, stumbling badly before finally recovering its footing toward the end.
A big reason the film works as well as it does is the pairing of dependable comic actors Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, who star, respectively, as John Beckwith and Jeremy Klein. Mediators by trade, these two bachelors live for "wedding season," as they crash the nuptials of the wealthy and privileged to enjoy the free food and booze. They also take advantage of the vulnerable, desperately lonely single women who congregate at these weddings.
John is starting to get bored with that routine, however. In fact, he falls for one of his "targets," Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams).
As it happens, Claire is the daughter of William Cleary (Christopher Walken), the no-nonsense U.S. Treasury secretary who's not about to let a cad play emotional games with his daughter. Meanwhile, the usually cocky and confident Jeremy has his own set of problems with Cleary's youngest daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher), who won't take no for an answer.
To be fair, the odd cobbling of "Old School"-like antics and "My Best Friend's Wedding" schmaltz does lead to a few laugh-out-loud sequences. Most of them come from Vaughn, whose character arc is most disappointing. (What he does at the end is just too conventional.)
As for Wilson and McAdams, they're both very likable, but it isn't really a pairing the audience can buy, no matter how much the two try to convince us.
Director David Dobkin and screenwriters Steve Faber and Bob Fisher also throw in unnecessary bits about Claire's randy mother (Jane Seymour), and a painfully unfunny Will Ferrell cameo, both of which only pad out an already too-long movie. (And shame on them for not giving Walken much to do.)
"Wedding Crashers" is rated R for occasional use of strong sexual profanity and crude sexual slang terms (as well as other sexual talk), simulated sex and other sexual contact, violence (mostly athletic or slapstick), some female nudity, and some drug references. Running time: 119 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com