| Wedding Crashers | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | David Dobkin |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Rolfe Kent |
| Cinematography | Julio Macat |
| Editing by | Mark Livolsi |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 2005 |
| Running time | 119 minutes 127 minutes (Director's cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million[1] |
| Box office | $285,176,741[1] |
Wedding Crashers is a 2005 American comedy film directed by David Dobkin. It stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, with Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper, Diora Baird, Jane Seymour, and an uncredited Will Ferrell.
The film opened on July 15, 2005.[2] The DVD was released on January 3, 2006, including an unrated version, and the Blu-ray version was released on December 30, 2008.[3]
Contents |
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are divorce mediators in Washington D.C. The two friends frequently "crash" wedding parties to meet women, working from a set of rules taught to them by a past crasher, Chaz Reinhold. The duo always has cover stories for inquisitive guests and inevitably become the hit of every reception. Their goals are to enjoy the free food and drinks and ultimately to charm their way into bed with women from the wedding for a one-night stand. After a sequence of successful crashes, Jeremy takes John to a wedding for the daughter of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William Cleary (Christopher Walken). Once inside, the pair set their sights on Cleary's other daughters, Gloria (Isla Fisher) and Claire (Rachel McAdams). Jeremy ends up having sex with Gloria on a nearby beach while the reception is taking place. Gloria is possessive and quickly becomes obsessed with Jeremy. She claims to have been a virgin until the encounter, which shocks Jeremy, and he tries to get John to bail on the reception with him.
Meanwhile, John is attempting to court Claire, the maid of honor, but he is interrupted by her hotheaded boyfriend, Zack Lodge (Bradley Cooper), who later turns out to want to date Claire only because of William's political power and is shown to openly mock and cheat on her behind her back. Later, John convinces Jeremy to accept the family's invitation to an extended weekend party at their family compound. Once there, Jeremy, John, and other members of the family play a game of touch football, which ends with Jeremy being badly hurt by an over-aggressive Zack. Gloria tends to him, while trying to engage him in sexual intercourse at the same time. At dinner later that evening, Gloria gives Jeremy a hand job under the dinner table, while John spikes Zack's wine with eye-drops. Zack becomes sick, which lets John further connect with Claire, and they agree to go for a walk together following dinner. John goes to his room to change his shoes, but William's wife, Kathleen (Jane Seymour), makes John fondle her surgically enhanced breasts, then rebuffs his actions, much to John's confusion. Later that night, Gloria ties up Jeremy and proceeds to rape him. That same night, Gloria's gay brother, Todd (Keir O'Donnell), paints a provocative image of Jeremy and tries to seduce him, but is interrupted by his father. The next morning, Jeremy asks John if they can go home, but John convinces him to stay, which helps Jeremy realize that John is falling for Claire.
That afternoon, the family (minus Zack) go sailing, where John and Claire continue to bond. Following the sailing trip, the family (with Zack now joining them) go on a hunting trip, where Zack intentionally shoots Jeremy in the buttocks (although it seems as if he was trying to shoot John, who fell down at the force of his gunfire at that point). After the hunting trip, John and Claire go on a bike ride through the country, and they end up at a secluded beach. Claire finally admits she isn't sure how she feels about Zack, and ends up kissing John passionately. Meanwhile, Gloria is tending to Jeremy's wounds, and reveals to Jeremy that she was not a virgin when they met, and that she only said that because that's what she thought he would like to hear. Jeremy realizes that he may be in love with Gloria. Later that day while eating lunch, Zack announces his engagement to Claire, leaving Claire at a loss for words, as she had not actually been proposed to. Outside, John is about to convince Claire to be with him, when they are interrupted by Jeremy being chased out of the house. Zack emerges and forces John and Jeremy to tell the truth about who they really are, as he had them privately investigated. John reluctantly reveals their true identities, and William kicks them out. While leaving, Todd wants his portrait back, but Jeremy tells him that he's keeping it as a gift; this gives Todd some relief knowing that someone took him seriously as an artist. Jeremy and Gloria briefly confess their love to each other.
John and Jeremy return to their normal lives. During that time, Jeremy is trying to keep his relationship with Gloria a secret when John comes in to talk to him. He's found a new way to try and reconcile with Claire by trying to be a waiter at her engagement party. Jeremy tries to convince him that his attempts to reconcile with her were unsuccessful and he needs to let it go by coming to term that Claire doesn't want anything to do with him. While pretending to be a waiter, he is caught and brutally beaten by Zack (who has his friends hold John while he beats him, so he can't fight back). Once he recovers, he goes to search for Jeremy (who was supposed to have helped him), but instead finds him still at his house and having sex with Gloria. When John learns the truth, he's very upset by it and it causes a rift between him and Jeremy. John crashes several more weddings alone, but behaves erratically due to his state of depression, and soon becomes nihilistic and suicidal. Meanwhile, Jeremy continues his relationship with Gloria, culminating in an accepted marriage proposal, and Claire begins to doubt her relationship with Zack. Jeremy attempts to reconcile with John, asking him to be his best man, but John refuses. John then goes to meet their mentor, Chaz Reinhold (an uncredited Will Ferrell), to reaffirm Jeremy's apparent stupidity in getting engaged. During the visit, he and Chaz decide to crash a funeral instead of going to Jeremy's wedding, as Chaz believes that grief is the best aphrodisiac. While there, John takes notice of a woman who is truly grieving for her husband because she loved him. He reconsiders his stance on love and marriage and rushes to Jeremy's wedding.
John joins the wedding mid-ceremony to Jeremy's delight, but soon disrupts it by attempting to speak to Claire. Claire, in tears, leaves the altar, but John quickly professes his love to her and his feelings of regret of his past behavior towards women. Zack interrupts, asking Claire to return to the altar so the wedding can be finished. Claire finally tells Zack that she can't marry him. He turns to William for help, but instead William states his full support of his daughter's decision to reject Zack, after he admits he put up with him because he thought Claire was happy. Clearly angry, Zack begins aggressively demanding Claire to return to the altar. John states that everyone is getting a good preview of what it would be like to be married to Zack (who he refers to as Ike Turner, referencing his supposed abuse of his ex-wife Tina). Zack loses control of himself completely and rushes at John, but Jeremy intervenes and knocks him out.
The film ends with Jeremy getting married to Gloria, John uniting with Claire, and the two couples driving away talking about crashing another wedding together.
Senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain (R-AZ) had a brief cameo appearance in the film towards the beginning, where he and Democratic strategist and CNN contributor James Carville are seen congratulating the secretary and his wife on their daughter's wedding.
The film was written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher and produced through New Line Cinema, with shooting taking place on location in Washington, D.C. and Maryland's Eastern Shore.[4]
Wedding Crashers received mainly positive reviews and has a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; 180 reviews were counted: 135 'fresh' and 45 'rotten'.[5]
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times wrote a favorable review and said "underneath the diarrhea gags, the long lens at close range of Vaughn's pants and the handcuffs, it's really just a love story about a couple of buddies who live happily ever after. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer, more charming couple".[6] Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said "It's crude, yes, but also funny; too bad these lost boys can't stay lost. Like clockwork, the film soon mutates from a guy-oriented sex comedy into a wish-fulfillment chick flick".[7]
The movie has gained notoriety for encouraging the deadly prank of putting Visine eyedrops in drinking water bottles, threatening fatal or severe injury to drinkers [8]
The film was released in North America on July 15, 2005, and became an immediate hit, grossing $33,900,720 in its first weekend,[9] hitting #2 in the box office, behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fairly well-received by critics, the film eventually grossed over $209,255,921 domestically. The astounding level of success was not expected by the studio, considering its modest budget ($40 million) and competition with heavily advertised blockbusters during the summer season. It grossed $75,920,820 overseas, totaling $285,176,741 worldwide.[10]
On April 24, 2006, Wedding Crashers topped the nominations for the year's MTV Movie Awards with five including Best Movie. It won Best Movie, On-Screen Team (Vaughn and Wilson), and Breakthrough Performance (Isla Fisher). The financial and award success of the film has been credited along with The 40-Year-Old Virgin for reviving the popularity of adult-aimed R-rated comedies.
Bradley Cooper was mentioned in the August 2006 issue of GQ as one of "The Top Twelve Movie Dicks". His character from Wedding Crashers placed number two behind William Zabka's character from The Karate Kid, whom he would later play in a Saturday Night Live sketch in 2009.[11]
The DVD was released in the U.S. on January 3, 2006, and a Blu-ray was released on December 30, 2008. It is available in an unrated version ("Uncorked Edition") and in an R-rated version. It features 8 new minutes integrated into the film and DVD-ROM bonuses. Also included are two audio commentaries (one by the stars, one by the director), four deleted scenes, two featurettes, a "Rules of Wedding Crashing" text gallery, trailers and Budweiser Wedding Crashers commercials, a track listing for the official soundtrack on New Line Records, a music video by The Sights, and a jump-to-a-song sample feature.[12]
The creators of the film made a reality TV version, called The Real Wedding Crashers. It was subsequently canceled.[13]
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