Wedding Crashers had the potential of being a great comedy but 
unfortunately the directing in this case cut its chances short. 
Most of the film relies on the comedic virtuoso of the two main 
leads, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as they improvise and truly 
bring the whole film to life. It seems as though the flmmakers 
simply set up the cameras and let them run while the two actors, 
especially Vince Vaughn created reality of the characters. So 
what is most interesting about this film is that it’s not as 
scripted as other motion pictures. It really is an exercise in 
improvisation where it’s ok to jump out of the storyboarding 
restrictions and go wild, because that’s after all what 
filmmaking is all about right? Going wild and capturing a moment 
of truth.

While all this great energy vibrates the audience, there is also 
the pending and dreadful necessity to get back on the page and 
within the correct margins. This indecisiveness makes the film 
vacillate between fun and serious, between rehearsed and 
spontaneous. The result is an awkward film that doesn’t know 
which way to go leaving the audience as emotionally confused.

Although, this is the best film to come out of the Ben Stiller, 
Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Will Farrell group of comedy, it falls 
flat far from behind remotely close to satisfying. 

It seems to reference a lot of films early on including 
American Wedding, American Pie, Machiavelli Hangman and 
even the French classic The Rules of the Game. There is a lot of 
nudity and lots of violence, some of which seems so unnecessary. 
In one scene, Isla Fisher who plays Gloria Cleary pours alcohol 
on an open wound that Vince Vaughn received after a violent 
round of football. Then she slaps it before jumping in his lap 
and riding him like a cowgirl at a rodeo.

Wedding Crashes does offer a lot of laughs, especially early on 
in the film but sadly enough, that streak of high energy dies out 
when the actors come down to earth and the whole movie begins to 
lag. The last one third of the film is calculated and it creates 
a huge contrast with the improvisational appeal of the 
introduction scene.

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn do make a great comic duo and we 
only hope that they will reteam on another project very soon. And 
let’s hope that the next one will give them to freedom to do 
their thing until the very end, instead of pulling the rug from 
underneath their and our feet. 

Anna Barrington is a movie reviewer.  
Machiavelli Hangman
http://www.hangmanmovie.com