There may be a fairly good movie within The Wedding Ringer, but it also happens
to be paired with several bad ones. There is nothing original about the
individual elements of this first-quarter release, though the schizophrenic
combination of these contradictory aspects borrowed from better films leads to
an original mess of a movie. What could be pitched as Hitch meets I Love You, Man
with Kevin Hart as a leading man, The
Wedding Ringer must have sounded like a surefire hit, but the result feels
like a Frankenstein creation born out of the creative cowardice of a studio
board room.
One of the aspects
of the film I found myself surprisingly endeared by was the bromantic
relationship developed between the two leads, which is only made possible by
the filmmaker’s willingness to allow each of these characters to be taken
seriously. Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a socially awkward groom with no male
friends to make up his wedding party, and Jimmy Callahan (Hart) is an
entrepreneur with a business lending himself out as the best man for weddings
and special events. Typically one of these characters would be the supporting
humor to the more relatable and understated lead, but The Wedding Ringer allows them both to become fully realized
characters meant to be cared about rather than merely laughed at. If only for
the relief of another performance from Hart as the loud-mouthed, scene-stealing
supporting character, I found this change commendable.
If the film had
focused on this relationship, it may have seemed a bit too similar to I Love You, Man, but the additions made
are no less predictable while contradicting the sweeter aspects of the
narrative. I’m sure sequences such as the bachelor party seemed a good idea to
someone, though I can’t imagine it felt like the same movie as the filmmakers
staged a peanut-butter hungry dog biting and yanking a prosthetic penis. The
over-the-top raunchiness feels crammed into the narrative alongside the
sensitive bonding of the two males, as does the contrived role of the
superficial bride-to-be (played by “The Big Bang Theory” star Kelly
Cuoco-Sweeting). The film even has a sequence with a football game against the
father-in-law where a group of older men pummel the young groomsmen, as if that
were an original idea.
If The Wedding Ringer were attempting to be
just one thing, it may have been mildly memorable. Instead, it feels like a
bromance, late-night comedy and a romantic comedy were chopped up and
re-stitched together in a way that is altogether forgettable. Though I hope to
see Hart play more sincere (and quieter) roles such as this in the future, I
also hope for his sake that they exist in better screenplays. The DVD special
features include a featurette and select-scene commentary from director Jeremy
Garelick and star Josh Gad.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 5.5/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 4.5/10
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