Wedding Crashers

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Wedding Crashers

Theatrical release poster
Directed by David Dobkin
Produced by Peter Abrams
Toby Emmerich
Robert L. Levy
Cale Boyter
Andrew Panay
Richard Brener
Written by Steve Faber
Bob Fisher
Starring Owen Wilson
Vince Vaughn
Christopher Walken
Rachel McAdams
Isla Fisher
Jane Seymour
Bradley Cooper
Keir O'Donnell
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 min. (rated)
128 min. (unrated)
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Budget $40,000,000
Gross revenue $285,176,741 (worldwide)
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

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.

Contents

[edit] Plot

John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vaughn), single bachelors, are long-time friends and business partners in divorce mediation in Washington D.C. The friends frequently "crash" (attend as uninvited guests) wedding parties to meet women, working from a set of rules taught to them by Chazz Reinhold (Will Ferrell). 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 a bridesmaid for one night only.

After a successful season, Jeremy spots the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary (Walken) and his wife, Kathleen (Seymour). After infiltrating the lavish event as brothers, John and Jeremy set their sights on two bridesmaids, also daughters of Secretary Cleary: Claire (McAdams) and Gloria Cleary (Fisher). While Jeremy manages to make it on the beach with claimed virgin and “psycho clinger” Gloria, John works on Claire, who in turn uses his lines to enliven her reception toast. While talking afterwards, John is blocked by Claire's U.S. Naval Academy graduate boyfriend Sack (Cooper). 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 seriously hurt by Claire's boyfriend. Gloria puts Band-Aids on Jeremy, expecting to have sex with him. However, she is turned down and is given a philosophical love speech. Jeremy is shown to not really like Gloria all that much. At dinner later that day, John proceeds to spike Sack's water which makes him sick, letting John have some alone time with Claire. That night, Gloria ties up Jeremy while he sleeps and then proceeds to have domination sex. 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 back, albeit not fatally. John and Claire leave on a bike ride in which they seem to connect deeply. In the meantime, Gloria reveals to relieved Jeremy that she was not a virgin; rather, 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, but Claire does not outright accept. John talks to Claire afterwards, as she is apparently discomforted by the proposal. 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 what the "brothers" really are, as he had them privately investigated. 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, he and Jeremy pretend to be waiters at an event the Cleary family is attending. However, John is caught and beaten by Sack. He returns home to find Jeremy locked in a passionate moment with Gloria. This results in an estrangement between the two, as they no longer see eye-to-eye. John crashes several more weddings by himself, but behaves irrationally due to his longing for Claire and fails to score with anyone. 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 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 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 on stage. 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 to their honeymoon.

[edit] 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 Treasury Secretary 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 frontrunner for the U.S. Presidency.
  • 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 falsely claims that she lost her virginity to Jeremy. She is obsessed with Jeremy and forces increasingly kinky sex acts on him, whether he consents or not. He calls her "a stage five clinger" but ultimately falls in love with her.
  • Jane Seymour as Kathleen "Kitty Kat" Cleary - The alcoholic sex lioness wife of William and mother of Christina, Claire, Gloria, and Todd. She is known for often seducing young bachelors, as she attempts to do so with John.
  • 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.
  • 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.

[edit] Cameos

[edit] 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. It was released in the United States 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.

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.

[edit] Critical reception

The film received a 75% on the T-Meter on Rotten Tomatoes and was reviewed as: "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%.

[edit] 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.

[edit] TV version

Main article: The Real Wedding Crashers

The creators of the Wedding Crashers movie teamed up with Punk'd star Ashton Kutcher to make a reality-TV version, called The Real Wedding Crashers, which aired in April, 2007 as a mid-season replacement for cancelled show The Black Donnellys. It was subsequently canceled as well[1].

[edit] Records

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.


[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory		 Box office number-one films of 2005 (USA)
July 31, 2005		 Succeeded by
The Dukes of Hazzard