"No one's going to mistake it for a major piece of cinema, but it's the rare person who won't find themselves consistently laughing aloud . This is one reception you won't want to miss."
Tom Long DETROIT NEWS
"Sometimes a movie comedy just clicks. Welcome to one of those times."
Peter Travers ROLLING STONE
"These guys are so perfectly matched, you only wonder why it took so long."
Gene Seymour NEWSDAY
"This crude and unabashedly cynical flick is the most uproarious Hollywood comedy since "Meet the Parents.""
Joe Williams ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
"When funny people don't censor themselves, funny things happen. Wedding Crashers knows this, and as a result it's one heck of a party."
Chris Vognar DALLAS MORNING NEWS
"The scene at a crowded dinner table is bound to become the most widely referenced sex gag since Cameron Diaz discovered a new kind of hair gel in There’s Something About Mary."
Brett Buckalew FILMSTEW.COM
"an unapologetically raunchy and frequently hilarious farce... Wilson and Vaughn... work together superbly... Impressively, the rest of the cast is playing at the same level."
James Sanford KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
"probably the funniest film this year and it's doubtful anything else will be able to challenge that position."
Mike Sage PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK
"Wedding Crashers is a brash, frequently hilarious film that may be overly long but satisfies our desires for a lot of comedy and a little bit of romance."
Mark Pfeiffer REEL TIMES: REFLECTIONS ON CINEMA
"People are desperate for a good laugh, and there are plenty to be had here."
Mary F Pols CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The Inside Story
"Vaughn and Wilson make up the best comedy team this year." Harvey S Karten COMPUSERVE
After a highly successful teaming as "Starsky & Hutch", Vince Vaughn ["For the Boys"] and Owen Wilson ["Anaconda"] are back together again in the riotous, romantic comedy "Wedding Crashers" and what a barrel of laughs it provides. With more humour, madcap antics and romance than "Meet The Fockers", "Wedding Crashers" looks destined to make a bundle at the boxoffice. Like many movies, the idea for the film came from a real life experience. "The idea for Wedding Crashers started with an invitation I received for one of my friend’s weddings a few years ago," says producer Andrew Panay. "I began thinking back to my college days when I crashed a couple of weddings with a buddy of mine because it was an easy way to meet girls. I thought it could be a great backdrop for a film, two guys who crash weddings to meet girls until one of them breaks all the rules and falls for one of the bridesmaids, but has lied about who he is for an entire evening." While the concept was a good one and there was some developement on it eventually Tapestry Films decided to bring in someone who could take the concept through the next stage, developing a screenplay. The job fell to debut feature film screenwriters Steve Faber and Bob Fisher whose previous writing experience was on the US television series "The Trouble with Normal". Producer Peter Abrams recalls "We felt within the concept of wedding crashing there was a lot of strong material which could be turned into a really funny story and script. We were looking for writers and Andrew Panay had met with Steve Faber and Bob Fisher on a script called "We’re the Millers" which we all thought was incredibly funny, witty and smart. We told them about the basic storyline for "Wedding Crashers" and they immediately ran with the idea." It's true they ran with the idea but thankfully, they felt there was plenty of room to move and some ideas that would [and as we now know] work well. "After we were pitched the basis for the film, both Bob and I agreed that we needed to create a world that was funnier than simply a couple of young guys crashing weddings all the time," says Steve Faber. "We thought, 'What if they were older and really shouldn’t be doing these types of things?' Weddings are the ultimate in forced bliss and we came to the creative conclusion that these guys really needed to be experts in the art of wedding crashing, so we devised dozens of rules that they always adhere to." Fabers writing partner Bob Fisher revealed, "We also knew we couldn’t sustain an entire film with just wedding crashing, so we thought that it’d be a good idea if one of the guys were to fall for a woman at one of the weddings. We wanted the characters to be caught in a place where their lives could be really affected by the choices they made." The partners in Tapestry Films [Andrew Panay, Robert L Levy and Peter Abrams] were evidently thrilled when Faber and Fisher presented them with the finished screenplay. "Steve and Bob did a great job with the script," says Panay. "They created these incredible characters and a really funny story and were able to mix the wedding crashing concept with the dynamic of meeting girls who change their lives." So how did they find the cast? Well when it came to casting the two lead actors the production team seems to have had a real stroke of luck. When New Line Films came onboard Faber and Fisher's script came to the attention of director David Dobkin. When Dobkin came onboard, he enlisted Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Dobkin had a connection with the now Hollywood hot properties after directing Vaughn in "Clay Pigeons" and Wilson in "Shanghai Knights". "I had just finished working with Owen and did my first film with Vince, so I thought it would be amazing if I could find a script that would enable me to pair these two guys up together on screen," says Dobkin. "The Wedding Crashers script crossed my path and I could hear their voices in the screenplay. Luckily for me, both Owen and Vince were really into it and loved the characters in the film."
"I have always liked films that have a story within the comedy which is based in reality and human circumstances," says Vaughn. "I loved the concept, two guys going to weddings pretending to be people they are not in order to meet and hook up with girls." Owen Wilson saw working on the film presented an opportunity to once again work with both Vaughn and Dobkin. "I liked the way David worked on Shanghai Nights and remembered how comfortable he made me feel creatively on set," says Wilson. "I worked with Vince on Starsky and Hutch, but we didn’t have many scenes together, so it was a really enticing prospect to do a buddy comedy with him." With both the lead actors signed on, the team turned their attention to finding those who would co-star in the film. "Secretary Cleary is the linchpin of this movie," says Dobkin. "The way you cast the role dictates if the film is going to be a little bit of a classier comedy with some intelligence, or if it was going to be a very broad comedy with little intelligence. The film’s basically about these two guys who go to the Treasury Secretary’s mansion to scam on his daughters, so I felt the character better be somebody that John and Jeremy were scared of because it would raise the stakes of the comedy." The team knew their was only one actor for the role. An actor who is one of my favourite actors by the way. "Christopher Walken was my first choice because he has a certain intimidation factor about him," says Dobkin, "but more importantly his performances in "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Dead Zone" have a certain warmth to them that I wanted to inject into the character. Chris also has an unbelievable sense of comedic timing and could create laughs out of a role where there wasn't necessarily a lot of comedy written on the page. Once we got him on board, it really galvanized the casting process." Next they turned their attention to casting Cleary's two daughters Claire and Gloria. "Hundreds of actresses auditioned for the role of Claire, but none of them really captured the essence of the character," Dobkin recalls. "I was an hour from going to the studio and presenting my top two choices when Rachel McAdams came into my office. I just loved her energy immediately. I threw her a couple of curve balls just to see how good she was and she nailed both of them, which made my decision really easy." Playing opposite McAdams as her sister Gloria, is 'aussie' actress Isla Fisher. "Wedding Crashers" should be a defining moment in the career of Fisher because, nationalistic pride aside, she is infectiously glorious in this role. "Vince is a powerful actor and I wanted his character to get hooked into somebody that audiences would believe could run him into the ground," explains Dobkin. "Isla Fisher was the only actress we saw who was sexy and could go toe-to-toe with Vince. She has a real fiery side to her, but she also has this real soft, sweet side as well, which is exactly what I wanted." Throw into the mix verteran comedian Henry Gibson [TV'S "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"], Ellen Albertini Dow ["Sister Act I & II"], Bradley Cooper [as Claire's self-centred fiance` Sack Lodge], Keir O’Donnell as the Cleary's totally bent gay son, and a very hilarious cameo by Will Ferrell as the founding 'wedding crasher' Chaz Reingold and you can see audiences are destined for a real treat. The film is sure to have an effect on audiences just as director David Dobkin laughingly says it had on him. "I used to hate weddings because expectations are so high and everyone hopes their wedding is going to go perfect. Inevitably, something always goes wrong and those are the memories that everyone remembers the most. After this film experience, I think I will enjoy weddings much more because I now have the inside track on making the most of the wedding experience."
Crew Bytes
"WEDDING CRASHERS" was .......
directed by David Dobkin
["Clay Pigeons" and "Shanghai Knights"]; screenplay by Steve Faber ["Wedding Crashers"] and Bob Fisher ["Wedding Crashers"]; costume design by Denise Wingate ["The Last Time I Committed Suicide", "Cruel Intentions", "The Sweetest Thing" and "Paparazzi"]; production design by Barry Robison ["Sensation", "October Sky", "Bubble Boy" and "The Rookie"]; edited by Mark Livolsi ["Crimes and Misdemeanors", "The River Wild", "Meet Joe Black" and "Almost Famous"]; cinematography by Julio Macat ["The Borrowers", "So I Married an Axe Murderer", "The Nutty Professor", "Bringing Down The House" and "Catch That Kid"]; original music by Rolfe Kent ["Nurse Betty", "Legally Blonde", "Freaky Friday", "Mean Girls" and "Sideways"] produced by Peter Abrams ["Pay It Forward", "The Wedding Planner", "Serendipity" and "Van Wilder: Party Liaison"], Robert L Levy ["Pay It Forward", "The Wedding Planner", "On the Line", "Serendipity" and "Van Wilder: Party Liaison"] and Andrew Panay ["The Wedding Planner", "Serendipity" and "Van Wilder: Party Liaison"].
Casting About
"WEDDING CRASHERS" stars .......
Owen Wilson
["Behind Enemy Lines", "Shanghai Knights", "Starsky & Hutch" and "Meet the Fockers"]; Vince Vaughn ["Old School", "Starsky & Hutch", "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", "Be Cool" and "Mr & Mrs Smith"]; Christopher Walken ["Plots With A View", "Catch Me If You Can", "Welcome To The Jungle", "Man On Fire" and "The Stepford Wives"]; Rachel McAdams ["The Hot Chick", "Mean Girls", "The Notebook" and "Red Eye"]; Isla Fisher ["Furnished Room", "Scooby-Doo", "The Wannabes" and "I Heart Huckabees"]; Jane Seymour ["Live and Let Die", "Joy Of Natural Childbirth", "The New Swiss Family Robinson" and "Touching Wild Horses"]; Ellen Albertini Dow ["The Wedding Singer", "Patch Adams", "Road Trip" and "Halfway Decent"]; Bradley Cooper ["Wet Hot American Summer", "My Little Eye" and "Carnival Knowledge"]; Will Ferrell ["The Ladies Man", "Elf", "Kicking & Screaming" and "Bewitched"]; Rebecca De Mornay ["The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", "The Three Musketeers", "Raise Your Voice" and "Lords of Dogtown"] and Henry Gibson ["Tune in Tomorrow", "Asylum", "Magnolia", "The Year That Trembled" and "The Commission"] as Father O'Neil.
What It's All About
"Wedding Crashers is a comedy that is unabashedly for adults, bless its bawdy, sentimental heart." Frank Houston PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS
John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey spend nine months of the year mediating at meetings involving divorcing couples and their lawyers. But come spring and their attention turns to their favourite pastime, crashing weddings. Race or religion doesn't matter, the guys have a plan in place for each and every wedding they plan to crash. In fact, they plan so well that everyone accepts them as part of the family. This wedding season they've crashed Jewish, Italian, Irish, Chinese and Hindu weddings with great success. Then John springs a surprise, he's tired and needs a break. But Jeremy has found one wedding they simply must crash. Treasury Secretary William Clearys daughter is about to be married in what will be the biggest wedding of the season. With massive security in place to protect the Senator and his guests this is the ultimate challenge. Their planning complete, the guys are inside and mingling with the guests. All goes well until John and Jeremy meet the Senators daughters, Claire and Gloria. Could they have finally met their match?
The Verdict
"The only way you won't get a belly full of laughs out of "Wedding Crashers" is if you're dead. It's a hoot! The funniest film of the year with more laughs and madcap antics than "Meet The Fockers", this will be a real winner and should go straight on your 'must see' movies list. Very recommended. Not to be missed!"
The Cast
Owen Wilson
Vince Vaughn
Christopher Walken
Rachel McAdams
Isla Fisher
Jane Seymour
Ellen Albertini Dow
Keir O'Donnell
Bradley Cooper
Will Ferrell
Ron Canada
Henry Gibson
Dwight Yoakam
Rebecca De Mornay
David Conrad
Jenny Alden
Geoff Stults
Ivana Bozilovic
Camille Anderson
Diora Baird
Ned Schmidtke
Stephen J Downs
Larry Joe Campbell
Mark Duane Anderson
Jules Mandel
Betsy Ames
Carson Elrod
Josh Wheeler
John G Pavelec
Charles Kahlenberg
Kathryn Joosten
John H Tobin
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John Beckwith
Jeremy Grey
Secretary Cleary
Claire Cleary
Gloria Cleary
Kathleen Cleary
Grandma Mary Cleary
Todd Cleary
Sack Lodge
Chaz Reingold
Randolph
Father O'Neil
Mr Kroeger
Mrs Kroeger
Trap
Christina Cleary
Craig
Ivana
Camille
Vivian
Frank Meyers
Franklin
Best Man
Secret Service Agent
Rabbi
Betty
Flip
Kip
Ken
Priest
Chazz's Mom
Cleary House servant
The Crew
Directed by David Dobkin
Written by Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
Produced by Peter Abrams/Robert L Levy/Andrew Panay
Original Music by Rolfe Kent
Cinematography by Julio Macat
Film Editing by Mark Livolsi
Casting by Lisa Beach & Sarah Katzman
Production Design by Barry Robison
Art Direction by Kevin Constant
Set Decoration by Garrett Lewis
Costume Design by Denise Wingate
Run Time 119 minutes
Rated M [AUST]
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