Wedding Crashers is a 2005
comedy film,
directed by
David Dobkin. The film stars
Owen Wilson and
Vince Vaughn, with
Christopher Walken,
Rachel McAdams,
Isla Fisher,
Jane Seymour, and
Bradley Cooper. The film debuted in North American theaters on July 15, 2005, and the DVD version was released on January 3, 2006.
Plot
Single bachelors and longtime friends, John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey are business partners in divorce mediation in Washington D.C.. The friends frequently "crash" wedding parties to meet women, working from a set of rules taught to them by a past ‘crasher,’ Chazz. The duo always have cover stories for inquisitive guests and inevitably become the hit of every reception, to charm their way into the hearts of ladies at the wedding for one night only.
After a sequence of successful ‘crashes,’ Jeremy spots the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary and his wife, Kathleen. After infiltrating the lavish event as brothers, John and Jeremy set their sights on two bridesmaids, also daughters of Secretary Cleary: Claire and Gloria Cleary. While Jeremy manages to make it on the beach with "stage-five clinger" and supposed virgin Gloria, John works on Claire. While talking afterwards, John is blocked by Claire's U.S. Naval Academy graduate boyfriend Sack. John convinces a resistant Jeremy to break the rules and accept an invitation to an extended weekend party at the Cleary family compound.
Jeremy and John are convinced into playing touch football where Jeremy is hurt by Claire's obnoxious boyfriend. Gloria puts Band-Aids on Jeremy, hoping to have sex with him. However, Jeremy turns her down with a philosophical love speech. Jeremy is shown to not really like Gloria all that much, at least not initially. At dinner later that day, John proceeds to spike Sack's wine with eye-drops which makes him sick, letting John have some alone time with Claire. That night, Gloria ties up Jeremy while he sleeps and then has her way with him. Jeremy is then visited by the girl's brother Todd later that night, thinking the two had "had a moment" earlier at the dinner table. The next morning, Jeremy asks John to leave the island with him but John convinces him otherwise. The family takes a boat ride in the afternoon, which ends in a hunting trip in which Sack shoots Jeremy in the rear end. John and Claire leave on a bike ride in which they connect deeply. In the meantime, Gloria reveals to relieved Jeremy that she was not a virgin. She merely told him so, as she "thought that's what guys liked to hear." John and Claire return from their bike ride, after which Sack "proposes" to Claire by announcing their engagement, leaving Claire at a loss for words. John talks to Claire afterwards, as she is apparently discomforted by the announcement. John tries to comfort her but ends up telling her his true feelings for her. They are interrupted by Jeremy running out of the house being chased by the grandmother with a gun. Sack comes out and tells the family who the "brothers" really are, as he had them privately investigated. John reveals their true identities, upsetting and hurting the entire Cleary family, particularly Claire. John and Jeremy are forced to leave the island.
John and Jeremy return to their normal lives; however, John is distraught, as he was never given the chance to reconcile with Claire, even though he attempted to contact her multiple times. During one such attempt, John pretends to be a waiter at Claire and Sack's engagement party. However, he is caught and brutally beaten by Sack and his friends. He returns home to find Jeremy, who was supposed to have attended the event with John, locked in a passionate moment with Gloria. This results in a rift between John and Jeremy, as they no longer see eye-to-eye on the idea of marriage. John crashes several more weddings by himself, but behaves erratically. Meanwhile, Jeremy continues his relationship with Gloria, culminating in an accepted marriage proposal. Jeremy attempts to reconcile with John, asking him to be his best man, but John cannot bear to think about the marriage and asks Jeremy to leave.
John meets their mentor Chazz to reaffirm Jeremy's apparent stupidity in getting engaged. During the visit, he discovers that Chazz has moved onto "funeral crashing," as he believes that grief is the best aphrodisiac. John joins Chazz on an outing, but is taken aback by the amount of love and sorrow shown by the widow of the deceased. He reconsiders his stance on love and marriage and rushes to Jeremy's wedding. He joins them mid-ceremony as the best man, but disrupts it by attempting to speak to Claire while standing at the altar. After intense arguments and a mild scuffle, Claire finally reveals that she, too, has feelings for John, and rejects Sack. The film ends with Jeremy getting married to Gloria, John uniting with Claire, and the two couples driving away joking about crashing a wedding all together.
Cast and characters
- Owen Wilson as John Beckwith - One half of the wedding crasher duo. John is a bachelor attorney riding high on his success with Jeremy, but unlike his friend, seems to be developing a conscience after taking advantage of so many women.
- Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Grey - The other half of the wedding crasher duo, and an unrepentant womanizer. He remains a loyal friend to John, even sticking it out over one tumultuous weekend at the Clearys'. He eventually meets his match in Gloria Cleary.
- Christopher Walken as United States Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary - A big sailing fan and oblivious head of the dysfunctional Cleary household. He is generally affable man, but punishes anyone who insults his wife or his three daughters. He is considered a possible presidential candidate.
- Rachel McAdams as Claire Cleary - Middle daughter of William Cleary and the love interest of John. A sweet girl and full-time environmental activist. Claire does not easily accept clichés.
- Isla Fisher as Gloria Cleary - Youngest daughter of William Cleary. A mentally unstable nymphomaniac who is obsessed with Jeremy and forces increasingly kinky sex acts on him. Initially he calls her "a stage five clinger" but ultimately falls in love with her.
- Jane Seymour as Kathleen "Kitty Kat" Cleary - The alcoholic wife of Secretary Cleary who attempts to seduce John.
- Ellen Albertini Dow as "Grandma" Mary Cleary - William's mother, Kathleen's mother-in-law, and the siblings grandmother who lives in the compound.
- Keir O'Donnell as Todd Cleary - The reclusive, hyper-sensitive son of William and Kathleen. He is an extremely angry homosexual artist. He is also convinced Jeremy "had a moment" with him at the dinner table, and tries to seduce him and play tummysticks.
- Bradley Cooper as Zachary "Sack" Lodge - Claire's sociopathic, testosterone-fueled, preppy, violent boyfriend who is obsessed with winning at any cost. Though he cheats regularly on Claire and is only interested in environmentalism so he can sleep with young activists, he is threatened by John and Jeremy. After frequently physically abusing John, Sack gets his just deserts in the end.
- Henry Gibson as Father O'Neil, the priest officiating at several weddings.
- Jennifer Alden as Christina Cleary - Eldest daughter of William Cleary, she is getting married when John and Jeremy crash her wedding and meet Gloria and Claire.
- Will Ferrell as Chazz Reinhold - The sage who passed on the wedding crashing rules to his protege Jeremy in 1993. He happily lives with his mother who, according to John, tried to poison Chazz's oatmeal. Chazz has most recently moved on from crashing weddings, and now predominantly crashes funerals.
Cameos
Production
The film was written by
Steve Faber and
Bob Fisher and was produced through
New Line Cinema, with filming taking place on location in
Washington, D.C. and
Eastern Shore of Virginia and
Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Box Office
It was released in North America on July 15,
2005 and became an immediate hit, grossing $33 million in its first weekend. Fairly well received by critics, the film also had extremely long legs, grossing over $209 million - the average 2005 film which made around $33 million in its opening weekend would normally manage total revenues circa $100 million. 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.
Popularity
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, a genre that has been deemed by some commentators as the "
Judd Apatow style" - although Apatow had no involvement in the production.
Critical reception
The film received a 75% on the T-Meter on
Rotten Tomatoes, which summarized critics' reviews : "The film is both raunchy and sweet, and features top-notch comic performances from Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson." 169 reviews were counted while 126 were fresh and 43 were rotten. The critics rated it 73% and the users rated it 83%.
DVD release
January 3, 2006 marked the DVD release for the U.S. It is available in an unrated version ("Uncorked Edition") and in an R-rated version. It features 9 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.
Stain version
The creators of the
Wedding Crashers movie made a reality-TV version, called
The Real Wedding Crashers. It was subsequently canceled.
[The Real Wedding Crashers NBC TV Show: Funny Marriage Prank Series and Jokes - NBC Official Site]
Trivia
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.
Will Ferrell's line of: "I almost
nunchucked you right there, you don't even realize", is taken almost verbatim from
Vince Vaughn's line in the film
Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Vaughn's line is "I almost killed you right there, you don't even realize."
Mr. & Mrs. Smith was released approximately one month prior to
Wedding Crashers.
The version of "
Shout" by the
Isley Brothers played in the film is the original version, edited to fit the film. However, the version found on the soundtrack is a different version than the one played in the film.
