The Wedding Ringer

The Wedding Ringer
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jeremy Garelick
Produced by	Adam Fields Will Packer[1]
Written by	Jeremy Garelick Jay Lavender
Starring	Kevin Hart Josh Gad Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting
Music by	Christopher Lennertz
Cinematography	Bradford Lipson[2]
Production company	Miramax LStar Capital Will Packer Productions
Distributed by	Screen Gems
Release dates	January 16, 2015 (2015-01-16)
Running time	101 minutes[3]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$23 million[4]
Box office	$75.5 million[4]

The Wedding Ringer is a 2015 comedy film co-written and directed by Jeremy Garelick. It stars Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting. The film was produced by Adam Fields, Will Packer Productions and Miramax Films, distributed by Screen Gems, and released on January 16, 2015.^[5][6]

Plot

Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) provides best man services for guys who don't have the friends necessary for a wedding. As Doug Harris (Josh Gad), a successful tax attorney, and his fiancee Gretchen Palmer (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) are planning for their wedding day, Doug becomes frantic searching for a best man. He faints and is referred to Jimmy's company, The Best Man Inc., by his party planner, Edmundo (Ignacio Serricchio).

Doug is sent to The Best Man Inc., by Otis (Corey Holcomb), which is located under an amusement park. Doug meets Jimmy and asks him to pull off a "Golden Tux" (seven groomsmen) to match with Gretchen's bridesmaids, which has never been done before. Jimmy refuses, claiming he is complacent and doesn't need the pressure. After hearing Doug's plea, Jimmy agrees to be his best man along with a payment of $50,000 and all expenses paid. When going over the formalities for the wedding, Doug tells Jimmy his name is Bic Mitchum.

Jimmy recruits some former friends. Fitzgibbons (Colin Kane), a criminal who escaped from a federal prison, agrees to be a groomsman because there will be seven bridesmaids to hit on. Next, he recruits Lurch (Jorge Garcia), a plumber, who agrees to get away from his nagging wife. Lastly, he recruits Reggie (Affion Crockett), an airline security agent, who agrees because there will be good food. Jimmy, his secretary Doris (Jenifer Lewis), Fitzgibbons, Lurch, and Reggie, interview people willing to fill the four remaining spots based on their "party trick distractions." They choose Kip (Alan Ritchson), a sexy man with a stutter, Endo (Aaron Takahashi), who has three testicles, Bronstein (Dan Gill), who can dislocate and relocate his shoulder, and Otis, who can say every sentence backwards.

Doug, excited, tells Gretchen that "Bic" flew in from El Salvador, and he will be at the wedding. He also presents to her two honeymoon tickets to Tahiti. Gretchen insists that Bic comes to the family brunch. Doug meets Jimmy and they memorize their identities. Doug also tells Jimmy that he must act as a military priest from North Dakota.

At the brunch, Gretchen's father Ed (Ken Howard) asks Jimmy what part of North Dakota he's from. Doug becomes nervous and almost blows his own cover until Jimmy accidentally sets Grandma (Cloris Leachman) on fire. They take her to the emergency room, and Jimmy makes up a lie to Ed that Doug used to play football. Ed challenges Jimmy and Doug to a football game with some of his old college teammates who will be at the wedding.

Doug meets his groomsmen, who he is initially not fond of. Doris gives all of them fake identities, all of which share the last names of famous Los Angeles sports figures (Plunkett, Rambis, Garvey, Alzado, Drysdale, Carew, and Dickerson) which they have to memorize. Jimmy takes the groomsmen on fake photo shoots of skydiving, scuba-diving, bowling, running a marathon, and climbing mountains. As Jimmy realizes Doug beginning to doubt him, he is taken to Edmundo's house. Doug learns Edmundo's flamboyant personality is just a ruse for better business. Edmundo tells him that the only key is to please Gretchen and her mother Lois (Mimi Rogers) and nothing else matters. To prove to Doug how good he is at being a best man, Jimmy takes Doug to a wedding where the best man (Josh Peck) makes a terrible speech. After, they have drinks and show off their dance moves. The two drink after the wedding and talk. Jimmy said he made an excellent best man speech for a minor friend which led to his career as a wedding ringer. Doug said that his father was an international tax attorney and moved frequently as a child, so he never got to make friends. He also tells Jimmy he's never been on a "guy trip" and just wants a friend to "sit down and have a beer with." When his parents died, Doug took over the business, and work consumed him, leaving him without a best man. Jimmy drives Doug home, and reiterates that they are in a business relationship, and Doug, although hurt, agrees.

Jimmy, thinking about what Doug said, is reminded by Doris why he started his business in the first place. She tells Jimmy he needs a real friend for himself, and he is motivated to pull off the rest of the wedding.

The next day, Doug is captured by Reggie and Fitzgibbons and taken to his outrageous bachelor party. He is introduced to Nadia (Nicky Whelan), who tries to seduce him. Doug instead befriends her and she later puts peanut butter on his genitals. Doug, who is blindfolded, is unaware that Jimmy and Nadia has a basset hound to lick off the peanut butter. When the prank goes awry, the groomsmen and Nadia race to the hospital and evade a cop chase. When Doug wakes up the next day, Nadia kisses him goodbye, and hints she would like to know him better. Later, the groomsmen play football with Ed and his college football friends, including Joe Namath, John Riggins, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. A mud bowl ensues and Ed blows out his knee on the last play.

At the rehearsal dinner that night, Gretchen's bridesmaids sing a song, while Doug's groomsmen create a slideshow of the fake pictures they previously took, winning Gretchen over. That night, Gretchen, speaking to Doug, notices Bic razors and Mitchum deodarant in their cabinets. She recognizes the familiarity in the last names of the groomsmen and deduces the scheme. She asks Doug about it but he brushes it off, saying Gretchen is paranoid, to which she reluctantly agrees.

On the day of the wedding, the family priest cancels and is replaced by Jimmy's old Catholic school principal. Doug hatches an idea where Reggie and Fitzgibbons kidnap the priest and Jimmy officiates the wedding as Bic Mitchum. The wedding reception is initially successful. Jimmy passes Gretchen and congratulates her on the wedding. Gretchen exclaims that the wedding is a disaster because her grandmother has third degree burns, her dad's knee is blown out, the food is bad, the bridesmaids are not attracted to the groomsmen, the zipper on her dress is broken, and she isn't marrying the man she loves. Gretchen confesses to Jimmy she only married Doug because she was tired of having bad relationships and he can easily provide the lavish lifestyle she wants. Doug overhears this in the bathroom and tells Jimmy that he can't go through with the rest of the wedding. Jimmy dismisses Doug's ideas and makes the best man speech. Before Jimmy wraps up his best man speech, Doug stops it and reveals he and Gretchen aren't married since "Bic" is not a real priest. He also tells everyone that his groomsmen are fake. Jimmy, Doug, and the groomsmen try to escape. Before doing so, Jimmy asks Gretchen's sister, Allison (Olivia Thirlby) on a date, which she accepts. Doug pays Jimmy his $50,000 like he promised and they accept each other's friendship. As they leave, Jimmy has an idea.

They use Doug's first class honeymoon tickets to Tahiti, taking him on a guy trip where the groomsmen, Edmundo, Doris, and Nadia, who begins her romance with Doug, party in first class, while Lurch says "I've got a bad feeling about this flight."

Cast

Production

Development

In June 2002, Daily Variety reported that Dimension Films had made a preemptive mid-six-figure spec deal for The Golden Tux, a comedy written by Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender. Road Trip director Todd Phillips was attached to produce the comedy, which revolves around the preparations for a wedding for which the groom has hired a professional best man.^[8]

In October 2006, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Garelick and Lavender, co-writers of the successful film The Break-Up, would now co-direct the film. The project, which the pair originally penned in 2001, had drifted through development hell as they wrote endless drafts, tailoring the script to various actors who flirted with the idea of starring in it.^[9]

On June 10, 2013, it was announced that Screen Gems and Miramax Films would be collaborating on production of the film project, still using the working title The Golden Tux. It was announced that the buddy comedy film would star Kevin Hart and Josh Gad and Garelick would make his feature film directorial debut.^[10] In September 2013, production had started on the project and the title of the film had officially been changed to The Wedding Ringer.^[11]

On September 18, 2013, Screen Gems announced that The Wedding Ringer would be released in theaters on February 6, 2015.^[12] After the success of Ride Along, which was released during the 2014 MLK Holiday weekend and was also produced by Will Packer and starred Kevin Hart, Sony moved up the release date for The Wedding Ringer to January 16, 2015, during the 2015 MLK Holiday weekend.^[13]

Filming

The film was originally set in Chicago but was rewritten for Los Angeles after the producers won a $2.8-million California tax credit.^[14] Filming took place in Santa Monica and Marina del Rey, California over the course of 38 days in the fall 2013.^[14]

Release

Promotion

Sony Pictures Entertainment released the first official trailer for The Wedding Ringer on June 19, 2014, a "Best Friends" official trailer on September 25, 2014 and a Restricted "Holiday" trailer on November 20, 2014.^[15][16][17]

On October 8, 2014, Kevin Hart announced through his Twitter account that he was "doing a college tour" to help promote The Wedding Ringer.^[18] Hart said that during this promotional tour, "he is focusing on college students because they are big social-media users" and can help promote the new film. He also encouraged the students to "tweet" about the film.^[19]

Home media

The Wedding Ringer was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 28, 2015.^[20]

Reception

Box office

As of April 12, 2015, The Wedding Ringer has grossed $64.5 million in North America and $11 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $75.5 million, against a budget of $23 million.^[21]

The film was released in North American theaters on January 16, 2015. It ranked #2 for the 3-day weekend, bringing in $20,649,306 from 3,003 theaters (an average of $6,876 per theater).^[22] For the 4-day MLK Holiday weekend, the film grossed $24,042,152.^[23]

Critical response

The Wedding Ringer received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of 28%, based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The critical consensus reads, "Kevin Hart and Josh Gad might be two great comedians that go great together, but there's little evidence of it on display in The Wedding Ringer."^[24] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[25]

Richard Roeper gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, acknowledging the chemistry between Hart and Gad but criticizing the "cockamamie premise".^[26]

IGN gave the film a 6.2/10, stating that "the movie is actually pretty funny."^[27]

ABCNews gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, stating "Hart and Gad make you laugh simply by showing up. Add a moderately funny script, and The Wedding Ringer is a winner."^[28]

Film review blog Movie Metropolis was more critical, saying that it felt like Hart was on autopilot for much of the film's running time and the deeper storyline got lost in a mess of slapstick humour.^[29]

Audiences polled after viewing The Wedding Ringer gave the film an "A-" CinemaScore.^[22]

Possible Sequel

The director has teased a possible sequel with Vince Vaughan.

References

External links

• Official website
• The Wedding Ringer at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wedding Ringer at Box Office Mojo