Sunday, July 17, 2005

Goodbye Old School, Hello Wedding Crashers!


“Wedding Crashers”
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Christopher Walken
3 and a half stars out of 4


Wedding season is here and there are honestly no other men we want to spend it with except for Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, shall I give the review first or talk about there chemistry? These two are better then Stiller and Wilson, better then Ferrell and anyone, period. They have such a knack for pissing each other off, but a better knack for knowing each other inside out as they star as best friends John(Wilson) and Jeremy (Vaughn).

There season of crashing weddings is a long horny season filled with drinking, dancing, and sliming there way along with there fabricated stories and pasts into as many girls’ pants as possible. These guys are fun to watch and that’s what makes this such a classy and sleazy comedy, it’s rare, very rare how we can watch these two guys get caught up in off the wall events for a full two hours, it doesn’t lag, it actually a full two hours of raunchy, comedic bliss that appeals to pretty much anyone who can appreciate work done by Vaughn or Wilson.

After about the first 20 minutes, they feel pooped out and partied out after the wedding season in there books is officially over, heaven comes early when the “Kentucky Derby” of all wedding’s strolls along. They know they will have to bring out there best game in order to be sufficient enough for any girl at the wedding. It’s an elegant wedding, the daughter of the Secretary of Treasury is tying the knot, and John and Jeremy must study what they are getting themselves into before diving in head first. They quickly discover they are trying to bed both daughters of Mr. Clearly (Walken) who happens to play the Sec. of Treasury to a tee. His daughters Gloria (Fisher) and Claire (McAdams) are first only targets by the John and Jeremy, but John quickly falls for Claire who is isn’t available due to a relationship with an untrustworthy snake, and then there’s Gloria, she must be noted as being played by Isla Fisher because she steals every scene that she’s involved in. Gloria isn’t shy when it comes to sex and Jeremy quickly learns that after she basically jerks him off under the dinner table, at first Jeremy is freaked out completely but then learns to love her freakish ways.

Everything will go fine for the duo just as long as they aren’t revealed as wedding crashers, while they spend there weekend with the Clearly family and others. The events that take place feel like Meet the Parents events, but with a younger group of funny guys and gals that take charge of every scene and comedic romp. This is such a fresh movie, it will be compared to being on the same comedic level as Old School, but in my opinion it blows far past it, the laughs are bigger, the acting is actually worth noting, and Vince Vaughn is a genius along with vastly underrated Owen Wilson.

It’s so very safe at this point to call this the funniest movie of the summer, if I would have seen it on January 1st, I would still call this the hands down funniest movie of the year. Drop what you’re doing, and attend “Wedding Crashers.”

Burton and his muse Depp, find redemption for Burton.


“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Deep Roy
3 stars out of 4


Tim Burton along with his favorite actor arrive in the summer scene and have done something worth noting, they have successfully translated a re-make on to the big screen that is worthy of being mentioned as the re-make to the late classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The new tale comes alive with the heart and soul of the story, Freddie Highmore the young Charlie Bucket and his family are poor, and they live in a small shack near Willy Wonka’s factory.

The dream of Willy Wonka’s factory is much a mystery nowadays to Charlie, his grandpa Joe explains to him how Wonka once fired all of his workers, he felt threatened they were stealing his recipes, how he pushed everything away from him, due to the neglecting he received from his father as a boy. This updated film is more of a character study for the quirky Wonka, since it’s solidly based on Roald Dahl’s book, it explains a lot about Wonka’s past while the audience is enjoying was is shown in his present.

Everyone knows the story; Wonka suddenly decides to open up his factory, but only to 5 young kids, the overweight non-stop chocolate eating Augustus, the spoiled Varuka Salt, the competitive and bratty Violet, the non-believing Mike T.V, and the considerate and lucky Charlie Bucket. Freddie Highmore plays the innocent Charlie well, and is extremely convincing along with the other young actors.

This is a Tim Burton movie, his creation of the new and improved Oompa Loompa’s is also to be noted, they are played by Deep Roy, who surprisingly has a lot of screen time, he plays inside and outside mostly within Wonka’s wacky world. Let’s talk about Johnny Depp in this, it seems like every role he confronts is a unique character that gives him his current reputation in Hollywood. It seems as though Depp can be himself in this role, but then again not. This is a different but similar role for him, it’s hard to describe this, he reaches to further depths with this liberating Wonka character.

This movie still isn’t perfect; I was actually surprised that I even liked it, and at times I appreciated things. The main flaw is that while were watching, we are being entertained with great things to look at and good acting, but we are not sucked in and ultimately intrigued as we wish to be. The funny thing is, while it has it’s flaws, it could be better, but not that much better, I can’t figure out why I think that.

With some of the recent movies out, there is no denying the magic and delightfulness that is on the screen when Depp and Highmore connect, this is there 2nd get-together and it’s the 2nd take on Willy Wonka’s story, and we like it.