August 16, 2018
'Wedding Crashers'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey toast to the 2005 raunchy comedy classic 'Wedding Crashers,' starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Bradley Cooper and directed by David Dobkin.
Cast
Owen Wilson as John Beckwith
Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Grey
Rachel McAdams as Claire Cleary
Christopher Walken as Secretary Cleary
Isla Fisher as Gloria Cleary
Bradley Cooper as Sack Lodge
Jane Seymour as Kathleen Cleary
Will Ferrell as Chazz Reinhold
Directed by: David Dobkin
Notes
- Extensive discussion about whether this movie could be made in 2018 – the hosts agree it absolutely could not. The whole premise, gay jokes, and racial code-switching would launch a torrent of hate pieces.
- The R-rated comedy boom of 2003-2009 gets a deep dive: 'Old School', 40 Year Old Virgin, 'Wedding Crashers', 'Superbad', 'Step Brothers', 'Knocked Up', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'The Hangover'. Bill notes R-rated comedies have always existed (Animal House, 'Caddyshack', Stripes) but Hollywood decided in the mid-late '90s that comedies needed to be PG-13 to make money, until 'Old School' brought them back in 2003.
- Bill compares Vince Vaughn to Our Generation's Chevy Chase – they can really only play themselves, and when the part works it's amazing. Chris argues he's more like Our Generation's Bill Murray.
- Bradley Cooper's career trajectory gets a lengthy discussion: from bland Alias best friend to 'Wedding Crashers' dick to Hangover star to Oscar contender. Sean notes he wants to be Warren Beatty/Robert Redford/Eastwood – complete control over his career for decades.
- Owen Wilson's career what-if: he hit the Wes Anderson lottery, co-wrote three of the best movies of the last 30 years (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Tenenbaums), but kept making popcorn movies. Sean says there was a moment in the early 2000s where you thought he might be the next Robert Redford.
- David Dobkin, Vaughn, and Wilson once came up with a sequel idea where John and Jeremy compete with a superior wedding crasher played by Daniel Craig.
- Bill nearly crashed a wedding at a hotel in Lake Tahoe when he heard "Shout" playing from the next room. Chris actually did crash a wedding once – he was drunk and wandered from his own wedding's after-party to another wedding at the same hotel.
Categories
Roger Ebert's review
Quote from Rog's review:
“Individual moments are very funny, and Vince Vaughn's running commentary almost carries the movie.”
- Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4, saying the director had "too much else on his mind" and that there were only individual moments that were very funny.
- Sean notes that Ebert "really misses the point" with this review. Bill concludes that Ebert on comedy in general is "not the best" – he's the archetype for the critic who doesn't understand why young people like comedies.
Most re-watchable scene
- The opening wedding crash montage – took a week to shoot, crosses a couple of lines, but it's spectacular. Bill says it made him want to stand up and applaud in the theater.
- The touch football scene – unbelievable. Bill wanted more of it, could have gone on for another 34 minutes. "Hot route" is a joke Chris says he'll take to his grave.
- The dinner table handjob scene – flat-out hilarious. Vince Vaughn is great in it. A lot more explicit than anyone remembers.
- The motorboating scene – "You motorboating son of a bitch" with Jane Seymour. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn at their best.
- The Dwight Yoakam / Rebecca De Mornay mediation scene that opens the movie – sets the tone immediately that this isn't like other movies.
What aged the best?
- Bradley Cooper shooting Vince Vaughn in the ass with birdshot – approximately eight months before Dick Cheney shot somebody in the face in a similar environment.
- Coldplay's "Sparks" – might be their best song 15 years later. Perfect fit for the movie.
- The wealthy DC area setting – was originally supposed to be Boston/Kennedy Compound, but summertime DC made it look like a great place.
- The Vaughn-Wilson chemistry – Hall of Fame comedic pairing. Strange they only reunited for The Internship.
- Isla Fisher – you would have bought stock in her becoming a huge movie star after this.
What aged the worst?
- The basic premise – lying about your identity to trick women into having sex with you. The whole concept of lying to have sex feels pretty dark in a more sensitive environment.
- The gay panic jokes – the punchline to a lot of the jokes is just "you're gay," which is really dated and inappropriate.
- The Todd character and all the homophobia around him – just doesn't work in 2018.
- The racial and cultural code-switching – putting on a yarmulke and saying "My name's Lou Epstein," pretending to be Japanese, American Indian, etc.
- The forcible rape of Vince Vaughn's character depicted in a humorous light – was criticized even at the time.
- Bill, Chris, and Sean all agree: this is the most dated 13-year-old movie that's ever existed. It absolutely does not get made in 2018.
Casting what-ifs
- Will Ferrell was offered the role of John Beckwith (Owen Wilson's role) but turned it down for the smaller Chazz Reinhold role.
- Jane Seymour beat out Raquel Welch for the Mrs. Cleary role.
- Nicolas Cage was the backup choice for the Will Ferrell/Chazz role.
- Vince Vaughn wanted Justin Long for Todd, and Long's interpretation was Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs – which would have been way more acceptable because it would have been so ridiculous instead of just homophobic.
Best "heat check" performance
- Will Ferrell as Chazz – shot his scenes in just one day. Every single line of dialogue is funny. "Mom, the meatloaf!" is the quote of the movie. This is the definition of the Dion Waiters award.
- Bradley Cooper as Sack Lodge – Hall of Fame movie dick. Relentless, not a single redeeming quality. Special recognition.
- Isla Fisher, Christopher Walken, and Jane Seymour are all nominees in a hotly contested field.
Best "that guy"
- Keir O'Donnell as Todd – the unfortunate black sheep character.
- Henry Gibson – one of the all-time "that guys." He's in Animal House, The Long Goodbye, and The 'Burbs.
- Rebecca De Mornay and Dwight Yoakam in the opening mediation scene – both should have been Dion Waiters nominees too.
Over-acting award
- The guy who plays Todd, the over-the-top gay brother – really going for it.
- The guy who plays Trapster/crab cakes at the touch football game – really gone for it with his four lines.
Half-assed (internet) research
- $40 million budget, $33 million opening weekend, $285 million total gross, 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Owen Wilson on the script: "When I first read the script, it wasn't comfortable. It was a funny concept and story, but parts felt corny." Vaughn, Wilson, and the writers then changed most of the movie.
- Vaughn and Wilson pretty much rewrote all their scenes in rehearsal and then would throw in more stuff on set.
- David Dobkin storyboarded all the scenes, which nobody does for a comedy, then half the scenes were the guys going off the rails.
- John McCain and James Carville appeared in the first Cleary wedding. McCain donated his salary to charity but got heat for the fake purple hearts.
- The movie's website sold fake purple hearts until the military intervened and told them to take it down.
- A reality TV show called 'The Real Wedding Crashers' made it to NBC for four episodes.
- Isla Fisher negotiated her nude scenes down from five to one. She watched 'Fatal Attraction' and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle before her audition.
- Rachel McAdams got her sailing certification and can now handle a 26-foot boat. She listened repeatedly to Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" to prepare for emotional scenes – Owen Wilson said it made her cry immediately.
- David Dobkin's first job was directing two Tupac videos: "I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up."
Apex Mountain
- Owen Wilson – he's never been more famous or had more movie options than after this movie. This sets up Cars the next year.
- Rachel McAdams – after 'Mean Girls', 'The Notebook', and this, she was supposed to have Julia Roberts's career. She was never more famous.
- The R-rated comedy boom (2003-2009) – 'Old School', 40 Year Old Virgin, 'Wedding Crashers', 'Superbad', 'Step Brothers', 'Knocked Up', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'The Hangover'.
- Vince Vaughn – debatable whether it's 'Swingers', this, or The Break-Up era when he was dating Aniston. But this is in his Trifecta with 'Swingers' and 'Old School'.
- David Dobkin – this is his biggest hit by far.
Picking nits
- The timeline of the first Cleary wedding: the wedding is during the day, then they get on a boat to go to the house, and suddenly it's nighttime. Was the wedding at 11 AM?
- The Secretary of the Treasury just randomly invites two unknown dudes to a pretty intimate family gathering – the Secret Service would have some questions.
- Owen Wilson's best man showing up late to Vince Vaughn's wedding at the end – that's your best man and he can't be on time?
- Why is Rachel McAdams dating Sack Lodge? He's obviously, on-the-surface a prick. It's just not credible.
Who won the movie?
- Vince Vaughn – peak of his powers. His bullshitting is immaculate. It's up there with Stripes-era Bill Murray and 'Fletch'-era Chevy Chase. He does things in this movie that are a virtuoso performance.
- Bradley Cooper deserves special recognition – went from Alias nice guy to Hall of Fame movie dick, which launched a career that led to 'A Star Is Born'.