Marriage is something ancient and best buried, or at least that is how John and Jeremy see the matrimonial commitment that marriage brings.  Thus, it is with a heavy dose of irony that these two take ecstatic pleasure in weddings.  They approach wedding ceremonies like a colossal smorgasbord of consensual women during the peak season of weddings, a season they celebrate, as the wedding season.  The wedding season for John and Jeremy is what Christmas is to kids, or hunting season is for a hunter, as they set out to conquer women.  For the simple reason of getting women into bed the two 30-something divorce consultants crash weddings, which they do in a deceitful and manipulative manner in order to unlock the heart of women with reckless abandon.

A funny analogy can be drawn from the two best friends, John and Jeremy, who work with other's misery like vultures sitting on a desert telephone pole waiting for their prey to die when they crash weddings.  Yet, they are social chameleons that easily mingle and make friends with their fake identities based on extensive research.  All of the befriending and manipulating has one ultimate goal to achieve a brief moment of physical pleasure.  This suggests that John and Jeremy never have experienced strong affections for someone more than the moment of love making.  Thus, these two mutate into a crossing between scavenging vultures and unfeeling reptiles while deceiving the wedding guests with their charismatic charm in order to successfully achieve their quest for gullible women.

In one scene, John briefly questions the moral meaning of what they are doing, which Jeremy rationalizes to the point where doubt no longer is present.  Nonetheless, the notion of deceitfulness remains within the audience while the story trots along.  After the lengthy introduction where the main characters crash several weddings, the official story begins when they crash a sophisticated upper-class wedding held for the politically influential Secretary of Treasury Cleary's (Christopher Walken) daughter.  At the wedding John encounters something for the first time that he has a hard time expressing for his friend Jeremy.   His eyes fall on the maid of honor Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), and from that moment on it is evident that John has fallen in love.  Jeremy is not as lucky at the wedding, as he gets himself into a heap of trouble with a slightly disturbed girl that will provide much belly-aching laughter.

After the wedding, John and Jeremy are invited to the Cleary's where they are introduced to a rather eccentric family on many levels.  Rachel McAdams' character, Claire, whom John has fallen in love with seems to be the only character that comes across like a caricatature.  This occurs while the rest of the family might qualify for a wide range of psychological disorders.  For example, her fiancée is a relentless Ivy League alpha male with psychopathic tendencies and her nasty homophobic grandmother openly assaults her own grandson in the presence of others.  It is a unique family environment in which John tries to win over Claire, by being himself, which is something new for him.  This will naturally set up some obstacles for John, but with the help of an agonized Jeremy he might succeed.   

Wedding Crashers is a candid and fun loving comedy that reaches deep within the society to pull out a wide range of expressions for love through a large number of characters.  The exaggerated characters shed light on contemporary issues that relate to love.  At times, it feels as if Puck (character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream) would jump out, which is a sign that this is a solid comedy with a little seriousness and cheerfulness.  This takes place as the story actually brings out some of the true qualities of human beings that often are tabooed, or neglected.  The director David Dobkin freely throws in a large number of sexual jokes in the film, as sex is a natural part of a marriage and love between a loving couple.  Thus, some scenes will likely offend some while many will find it difficult not to laugh.  In essence, Dobkin pokes at love through a wide spectrum of societal values while maintaining the strength of ambiguity that travels with the phenomenon of love.

DIRECTED BY

COUNTRY

USA

Filmography links and data courtesy of