Wedding Crashers (2005)

Wedding Crashers is two different movies stapled together at the reception. The first hour is a fast, loud comedy about two divorce mediators with an actual rulebook for sneaking into strangers’ weddings, and the montage of them toasting, dancing and fake-crying through ceremony after ceremony is the best stretch in it. Then John falls for Claire, and the back half turns into a mopey romance where Owen Wilson mostly sighs. Vince Vaughn is the engine. He talks so fast the other actors look like they’re catching thrown baseballs, and his misery during the family touch football game is a one-man show. Isla Fisher’s Gloria is pure chaos and nearly steals the movie. Bradley Cooper plays Sack like a cartoon jock who forgot how to blink. Christopher Walken barely gets anything to do, a crime against Walken. It made $209.3 million domestic. A 6.6 because the first hour is a blast and the rest runs out of cake. $305.43 says your next real wedding invite gives you a tiny thrill that you’re actually allowed to go.

What works: Vince Vaughn’s motor-mouth timing and Isla Fisher’s wild energy make the first hour one of the best comedy runs of its decade.

What doesn’t: The second half trades the jokes for a slow, predictable romance, and at 119 minutes it drags well past the point of fun.

Who it’s for: People who quote comedy montages and don’t mind sitting through a rom-com to get to them.