Review of The Wedding Ringer (2015) by Jesse O — 28 Apr 2015

It's purely coincidental that this, and the last movie I reviewed, are centered around weddings. Didn't even notice that until I was about to write the review. It's really inconsequential in the long run, so who gives a shit really? Maybe I was in a good mood or something, but this wasn't as bad as a dudebromance comedy as I was expecting.

Maybe part of that is Kevin Hart's and Josh Gad's chemistry with each other and their inherent likability, but this was slightly below average movie. Certainly more watchable than I would've anticipated.

A lot of the humor, however, is that really broad and lazy humor that involves a lot of slapstick and some gross-out elements involving a scene pretty much bordering on bestiality. They play the latter of as a prank, but it's a little odd that that's the prank they would play on Doug at that particular point in the film.

Then again there probably wasn't many better options. Either's it's that or you have a guy do it and you come across as homophobic. If an ugly woman did it then you have sexism, and the film itself did contain some of that on its own, so then you'd have even more troubles.

I suppose it's the lesser of all evils, it was just still a little weird. But, at its core, the film is surprisingly about the loneliness these guys, Doug and Jimmy, go through. Doug in that he literally has no friends so he has to hire a professional best man, and accompanying groomsmen, in order to make it look like he's not a 'loser' and Jimmy because he's spent his entire adult life pretending to be something else for other people without making any friends of his own.

Of course it's not like the film explores that loneliness in a compelling, dark or thought-provoking manner. But it's still a fairly interesting idea to tackle on what is supposed to be a goofy, R-rated raunchfest.

This is one of those types of movies that gives off the appearance of being fun but doesn't really translate well on-screen. Sometimes it works. I've given positive reviews to films because of the fact that the cast was clearly having a good time and how that was infectious to the audience.

But it doesn't really come across that well in this film. I can imagine the shoot itself being fun, but somehow the film just doesn't really reach a higher level. Scripting might have a lot to do with it.

Also, the whole Doug's fiancee is a bitch subplot, honestly, really came out of nowhere. It'd be one thing if she subtly made remarks right from the start of the film that would give you an idea that she's not really in love with him.

But, in my opinion, it honestly comes out of nowhere because they had to give Doug an out or something. At first Gretchen comes across as likable and sweet. Maybe Kaley Cuoco was supposed to be more subtle, but in being so subtle, if that's what she did, she actually stopped being that to the point where it didn't come across.

Olivia Thirlby is also massively wasted here honestly. Gretchen's, Kaley Cuoco, father is probably the most entertaining part of the film for about the first 30 minutes or so. This guy was just a troll, fucking around with everybody.

But then he disappeared, for some reason, and came back for the football scene with the football legends vs Doug and his band of merry men. This scene was entertaining. Wouldn't call it hilarious, but it was amusing and it gave me some chuckles.

That's about it honestly, that's all the film got from me. Modest chuckles. It's certainly much better than I would've ever expected, but that doesn't make it good. Still, I was in a better mood, so this was, at the very least, watchable enough to where I didn't hate myself for having watched this.