Wedding Crashers

"Wedding Crashers" is hilarious for the entire first hour. Unfortunately, this is a two hour movie. If ever there was an example of the wind being sucked from the sails, this is it.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson star as two lawyers who look forward to wedding season more than Christmas. As the title suggests, these guys crash weddings posing as friends of the family of either the bride or groom. Their intent is not merely for free cake and beverages, but rather to hook up with bridesmaids. How they go about doing this, and the methods they employ, are close to genius.

Along comes the wedding of all weddings, when the daughter of the Secretary of Treasury (Christopher Walken) gets married. The guys see this as the feather in their cap, if they can pull off their usual scam. Predictably, this is when their lives get complicated, as Wilson falls for one bridesmaid (Rachel McAdams), and Vaughn hooks up with one that won't let go. Rather than sticking with their usual plan of love-them-and-leave-them, the guys end up spending the weekend at the Secretary's summer home with both women.

The laughs flow, up until their cover is blown. Once the joke is over, so is the comedy. From this point, the movie attempts to be a romantic comedy, which it wasn't in the first half and struggles to achieve in the second. Upon further reflection, "Wedding Crashers" can be compared to a real wedding. The first hour of the movie is the reception where everyone has fun, there's laughter and some craziness. The second hour of the movie is the day after; it's the hangover that just won't go away. I give it a C.

"Wedding Crashers" is rated R with a running time of two hours.