MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

One of 2005’s more effective summer comedies, Wedding Crashers is the latest vehicle for comedy duo Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, who seem to be making something of a habit of appearing in movies together. This time round they play best friends John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, good-natured womanisers who spend each summer crashing society weddings, spinning tall tales about their lives and histories, with the express purpose of ‘having their way’ with the bridesmaids. However, then the pair crash a wedding hosted by powerful US Senator Cleary (Christopher Walken), things change: John (Wilson) meets unexpectedly falls in love with Cleary’s middle daughter Claire (Rachel McAdams), while Jeremy (Vaughn) finds himself pursued by Cleary’s slightly insane youngest daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher). Before they realise what has happened, the happy-go-lucky conmen have been invited up to the Senator’s lavish summer home in the country, where they meet the rest of the family, including Cleary’s sex crazed wife Kathleen (Jane Seymour) and Claire’s jock boyfriend Sack (Bradley Cooper). Unfortunately, John and Jeremy must continue with their charade in order for true love to blossom…

I have to admit I have a real fondness for comedies like this, which combine romantic sentimentality with verbal sparring and slapstick violence. Wilson and Vaughn, along with Ben Stiller, are among my favourite comedy actors of the moment, and Wedding Crashers is a perfect example of what they do so well. David Dobkin (who directed Wilson in Shanghai Knights) keeps the action moving nicely, and it’s great to see performers like Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour not afraid to lampoon their cinematic personas for amusing effect. Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher are solid in their supporting turns (Fisher especially has some riotous scenes), and the whole thing concludes with a happy ending that actually had the audience I saw it with cheering and clapping – almost unheard of in the UK!

Rolfe Kent’s original score for Wedding Crashers is a fairly straightforward affair which combines modern jazz riffs for the misadventures of the crashers with upbeat caper music for the more out-and-out funny sequences, and low-key romantic sentimentality for the orchestra. Some of the sailing sequences aboard Senator Cleary’s yacht are scored with sweepingly beautiful nautical themes, while the finale has all the usual rom-com stylistics, replete with upbeat string lines and tender piano melodies. All in all it’s a pretty typical effort, but one which provides a number of attractive and memorable moments in context. Unsurprisingly, none of Kent’s music features on the widely-available soundtrack CD (which instead features pop tracks from artists such as Death Cab For Cutie, Flaming Lips, Bloc Party, Spoon and Rilo Kiley); New Line Records released Kent’s score somewhat belatedly six months after the film opened.

Rating: ***

Track Listing:

• Wedding Crashing (2:46)
• Claire’s Theme (3:02)
• Not That Young (1:12)
• The Cleary’s Waltz (Seeing Claire For The First Time) (1:18)
• Boats, Bodily Fluids & A Little Football (2:54)
• Gloria and Jeremy Connect (2:19)
• All Tied Up With Todd (1:15)
• Sack Plots Against John (0:42)
• Sailing With John and Claire (3:05)a
• Quail Hunt (1:13)
• Gloria, Rope, A Sock and Duct Tape (2:30)
• Claire, A Beach and John (3:20)
• The Crashers Masked and Expelled! (2:03)
• John the Waiter/Sack’s Beating (2:24)
• Claire’s Tears (0:54)
• Winning Claire Back (4:02)

Running Time: 34 minutes 59 seconds

New Line Records NLR 39057  (2005)