[Movie Review] The Wedding Ringer (2015)

Posted on January 16, 2015 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 0 Comments

Director: Jeremy Garelick

Writers: Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender

Runtime: 101 min

Main Cast:

Kevin Hart as Jimmy Callahan
Josh Gad as Doug Harris
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting as Gretchen Palmer

Guest Review: by Erika T

Smart but socially inept, Doug Harris (played by Josh Gad) has landed the woman of his dreams, Gretchen Palmer (played by Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). They are getting married in only two weeks, and everything is going well save for one problem: he has no best man or groomsmen to add to the wedding party. The clock is running out and desperation gets the better of him. He called Jimmy Callahan (played by Kevin Hart) who specializes in this kind of thing. As owner of Best Man Inc., he provides anything and everything a groom could need for his wedding. Jimmy likes to keep it strictly business between his clients, but Doug might be the friend he’s always wanted.

There are so many wedding movies nowadays you have to wonder what this film could bring to the table to be remotely fresh. I was skeptical initially. Kevin Hart has been a busy guy and I was thinking this could be yet another opportunity to churn out mediocre comedy. Hart is hit or miss for me as I think he tries too hard at times and then the humor is lost on me. But when it comes to this film, he is a hit. He scales his over-the-top personality back, turning it on only when the scene calls for it, and the results are one hell of a good time at the movies!

I don’t think I was laughing out loud quite as much as the audience was for certain jokes here and there, but for the most part I thought the film was engaging, charming, and all around entertaining.

Josh Gad and Kevin Hart have good on-screen chemistry and the vibe doesn’t feel forced. Perhaps it’s because Gad doesn’t have the reputation for it yet, so it doesn’t feel like a team up to pander to fans. The groomsmen were also a riot, though their presence isn’t as much of a factor until the latter part of the film. I would have liked to have seen them developed a little better individually, but the run time would have been significantly longer and this film was just the right length to me. Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting does a good job, but the character is not interesting. Her family’s performances were more interesting. I think substantive development should haven been clearer early on to make the most of such a talented cast.

Summary

The Wedding Ringer is R-rated comedy done right. Being the huge fan of The Wedding Crashers that I am, I think this film would appeal to fans of that movie too. Though The Wedding Crashers is still better to me, this is certainly worth the time.

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