June 19: Wedding Crashers

"John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary."

It's hard to believe that Wedding Crashers is 8 years old. It's even harder to believe that since then, Vince Vaughn has only made terrible movies (not to mention two back-to-back Christmas bombs). Either way, it's nice looking back to 2005 and watching one of the best comedies of the last ten years. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are perfect together and Wedding Crashers certainly could have been the start of an incredible comedic duo making tons of movies together. I continue to wait for their reunion and while I can't see a Wedding Crashers 2 happening, I hope they cross paths again sooner than later. And immediately after typing that I looked up the two and came across this. They are reigniting their potent man-chemistry for another movie, called Interns. 

Wilson and Vaughn work together every 8 years, yet this f**ktard makes a piece of shit once a year? The world is so unfair. 

Wedding Crashers follows Jeremy (Vaughn) and John (Wilson), two best friends who work every angle imaginable to get laid at weddings they aren't even invited to. They come up with characters, fake-family connections, back-stories, and elaborate lies to not only get in with the ladies, but become the life of the party. They are both incredibly engaging, easy-going and extremely confident and although their intentions are not the most "pure", having a party with either of them would be one hell of a good time. When the two crash a high-end, very public wedding of the Cleary family, Jeremy and John both find themselves caught up by two very unique and attractive women. Jeremy goes after Gloria (Isla Fisher), who turns out to be an insanely clingy, nymphomaniac and John falls for Claire (the perfect Rachel McAdams), a woman "promised" to another man (Bradley Cooper). After a very odd turn of events and character's decisions, Jeremy and John are invited to the Cleary estate for a weekend of family fun and activities. As Jeremy struggles to get out of his overly-attached "girlfriend's" grip, John falls deeper in love and the two have to change the rules of wedding crashing to get through the weekend.

Mandatory McAdams is mandatory. 

Wedding Crashers is an amazing comedy that can be quoted over and over again. Sure it has its faults, as most of the minor characters make stupid decisions to keep the plot going, but it's still so much fun. Vaughn and Wilson make the film their own and without them, Wedding Crashers would be nothing more than a throwaway comedy. It also has Christopher Walken, who is just kind of their for his star power, but still manages to be pretty darn creepy-awesome. Also, keep in mind that Wedding Crashers set a standard for R-rated comedies and continues to be one of the best out there. It's still good and always will be. I certainly recommend it.

The Good:

a great premise that's executed wonderfully with a script that you can only imagine is as good as it is because of Vaughn's and Wilson's improvisations

The Better:

Rachel McAdams as the beautiful woman anyone can fall in love with and the awkwardly sexy Isla Fisher who is the woman anyone would want to take to bed (in a freaky, kinky kind of way)

The Best:

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson at their bests, and even better when they're together

Overall: 8.2/10

Trailer:

March 6: The Big Year

"Two bird enthusiasts try to defeat the cocky, cutthroat world record holder in a year-long bird-spotting competition."

   The Big Year is a very ordinary film about people with too much time and too much money traveling all around North America searching for hundreds of birds. As always, Steve Martin plays an insanely wealthy person with an expendable income to do whatever he pleases (see Father of the Bride, It's Complicated). Jack Black tags along as the (surprise) "every man" who's ultimate dream is to win The Big Year annual birding event. Owen Wilson is attempting the event in hopes of preventing anyone from breaking his record he set in a previous Big Year. The three are good in their respected roles, but the script and lack of story leave their characters very plain and "safe". The Big Year does have a lot of good footage of birds but mixes in a lot of seemingly unnecessary CGI. 

The rare and elusive aviario adreamworkus

   The Big Year is one of those movies you can only assume people agreed to do for the sake of traveling all around the continent and, of course, working with Steve Martin. Now, I can't hold anything against them because Martin is a legend and any time you could spend with him off camera has to be like hanging out with a silver-haired god of comedy. Yes, I believe Martin to be a national treasure. You know I am right. However, The Big Year does not showcase Martin and his talent as much as one would hope, but his likability, as well as Black's and Owen's, does lift the film above mediocrity. 

One can assume this immortal man will never leave us, but if he does, may he be enshrined. And, thousands will make the pilgrimage to see his remains. 

   Overall, The Big Year is the sweet kind of movie you can watch with your grandparents. It's safe and packs just enough chuckles to keep it somewhat interesting. The film really lacks any true story, as it really just jumps around with the characters and their attempts to find birds. What little story exists, is weak and predicable, but as a movie you do need to have some sort of plot to string every bit together. The film's nice to look at, and the locations make you want to travel on your own, but you can't help keep looking for something that's not there. The Big Year is average on all levels, but given the subject matter, one could assume it's the best it could be. 

The Good:

the film makes you realize nature is more than just plants and animals, and seeing people do what they do, simply because they love it is inspiring in a way

The Bad:

a very, very weak plot that constantly jumps around

The Ugly:

realizing Steve Martin still has it, and needs to do something amazing again

Overall: 6.3/10

Best Quote:

1. Brad: "There is going to be major fall out."
2. Bill: "Nuclear fallout?"
3. Brad: "Bird fallout."

Listen for:

as many songs with the word bird in them as they could squeeze into a film