Wedding Crashers vs Ferris Beuller's Day Off

Wedding Crashers was directed by a man named David Dobkin, but after watching the movie, you'll swear it somehow directed itself, and that in a couple months, it will assemble its own bloopers and release itself on DVD, like one of those monsters in bad sci-fi, where they get bigger and bigger, accumulating spare parts and lesser Baldwins and whatnot. Wedding Crashers checks off a dozen or so clichés in this sort of comedy, right down to the cast. I'll admit, I get a bit of pleasure out of this gang: Owen and Luke Wilson, Will Farrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Snoop Dogg, etc. But Wedding Crashers gets too far off course. It gets all sticky and sentimental and sweet. By the time Owen Wilson sulks in his apartment, heartbroken and depressed, I was so over Wedding Crashers I was thinking just bring on Jack Black already so I can go home.

But I've gotten ahead of myself. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play the titular Crashers, and in chase you don't get the plot from the title alone (which is honestly enough) it's played out in an extended musical montage at the beginning of the movie, causing Wedding Crashers to begin like many comedies end. It's a little disorienting. Wilson and Vaughn go to weddings, scope out hot lonely females, and hit on them at the reception, lying about their personal lives to impress or gain sympathy. They get laid, they leave, they move on to the next wedding. During these opening scenes, Wilson and Vaughn are great. We all already know that they've got chemistry as friends, but they surprised me by being so mean and shallow in Wedding Crashers. For a few scenes there, Wilson and Vaughn rock. They're full-on grifters, and womanizers to boot. There's nothing Frank T.J. Mackey could teach them that they don't already know. I thought, for a few hopeful scenes, that Wedding Crashers might be to weddings what Bad Santa was to Santa Claus; meaning, you know, it would be offensive. But no, the word “Wedding” in the title means the same thing it means in most comedies with “Wedding” in the title. Yawn.

The offending party is Owen Wilson. His character is the one who falls in love. Vaughn tries to keep things mean and fun, but apparently it's not up to him. In fact, not much seems to be up to Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. He has as much screen time as Owen Wilson, but something about his role feels a little sidekickish. Vince, you're supposed to have your own Favreau; you aren't supposed to be Favreau. I mean, come on, if Vince Vaughn is only going to make comedies, and they're only going to be, you know, Dodgeball, then can he at least have the lead? Can he at least do a little something? Stop hitting Vince Vaughn in the nuts, already. Let me tell you: in Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn is a fast-talking, smooth-dancing id, woofing down huge meals and lying through his teeth. He's hilarious, and he deserves better than being second to that slow-poke softy Owen Wilson. Seriously Vince, if Owen Wilson is such a good friend, how come you haven't gotten any Wes Anderson movies? Something to think about, huh?

The girls in the movie (Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher) are cute and funny, but both are a little…um…youthful for their male counterparts. There are at least a dozen funny, fetching actresses hovering around Vince Vaughn's age (Parker Posey, Lauren Graham, Amy Pohler, to name three), but I suppose that's not the type to attend a wedding. Wouldn't be realistic. Oh, and Christopher Walken shows up, because Christopher Walken is a girl who can't say no.

It's funny that the remedy to a clichéd comedy is something by John Hughes. Ferris Beuller's Day Off starts with a young conman—he's the sort of guy who might grow up to be a Wedding Crasher—and although he's got a heart, he never truly softens. Ferris Beuller is a big, fat liar, and he stays one for the entire movie. Good for him.

Say what you will about Matthew Broderick; as Ferris Beuller, he's just right. There's simply nothing to change about his performance. Broderick's Ferris is intelligent and funny, and charming in a way that keeps his best friends pissed and frustrated with him, even as they helplessly do his every bidding. The movie takes place in a single afternoon, while Ferris skips school with his best friend and girlfriend (Alan Ruck and Mia Sara, respectively). They aren't as obnoxiously social as Ferris, so no one is looking for them. Ferris, however, has set off a bomb of sympathy so huge he might as well be trapped in a drain pipe somewhere.

Ferris Beuller's Day Off does what Wedding Crashers thinks it's doing: it's a fun, spirited comedy, but it maintains an edge. You think Ferris Beuller is nothing but fluff? Think it's just for fun? Watch Sister Beuller Jennifer Grey making out with Charlie Sheen at the police station. Watch buddy Cameron freak out over his dad's car. Watch Ferris continue to bullshit everybody, with the credits mere minutes away. And you, Vince Vaughn, you watch Ferris Beuller's Day Off, and tell Owen Wilson that next time? He's your Cameron.

Wedding Crashers: C+
Ferris Beuller's Day Off: A