Breaking Records and Crashing Weddings
It's getting late, and I should definitely be getting ready for bed, but I wanted to try and get one more post in before the work week begins. These last couple of months have really been a big drain on me. As excited as I am to finally have a house that Megan and I can call our own, it's been a lot of work. Not only have I been working a great deal on the house, but when we finally got our act together to begin moving into the house, we picked the worst possible weekend to do it. Yes, my friends, we picked this weekend. And by this weekend I mean the hottest weekend in Nebraska ever. Now, you might think that's hyperbole, but let me assure you, it's not. The previous record high was set during the freakin' Dust Bowl! If you're from around here you might think that sounds like some bit of Cornhusker football lore, but you'd be wrong. No, the Dust Bowl was the worst drought in American history, took place for the greater part of the '30s, and was the backdrop for Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Yeah, that Dust Bowl. Anyhow, the previous high was 103 and on Saturday we beat that by 2 with 105. That's one record hope to never take part in breaking again.
So, Saturday was the day we were supposed to move. My mom was going to roll into town with a fully loaded U-Haul that we were going to unload partially at her house, partially at mine and Megan's new house, and then reload and move even more stuff to our house. Instead, mom showed up early. And when I say early, I mean 12 hours early. She pulled into the driveway at 10:00 p.m. on the dot. As soon as she showed up, I knew this was an opportunity not to be squandered. I convinced Megan and mom that the thing to do was start unloading immediately, if not sooner. I mean, why move when it's going be 105 when you can move during the middle of the night when it's a cool 84? Yeah, it was still 84 at 1:00 a.m when we got done! In other words, it was miserable. It was hot and humid and I was sweating from places I didn't know I could sweat from, but we got most of the big stuff moved before we went to bed. Let me tell you, I am so glad we that did, because we finished up on Saturday around noon with a little help from Max, and Dear God, was it hot. I think I drank my own weight in water and never once went to the bathroom. I honestly think the liquid was evaporating before it hit my tongue.
After a well deserved afternoon nap, Megan and I decided to take a break from all the house stuff and joined Max and Tim Lenon for late showing of Wedding Crashers. Now, Megan and I had only been to the theatre to see 2 movies this summer prior to seeing this one, so it might seem like an odd choice. Not odd per se, but not exactly what one would term "high cinema." Man, was it worth it, though. It was so nice to go to theatre after busting our humps for weeks on end and just relax and laugh.
And boy did we laugh. A lot. Wedding Crashers centers around two characters played by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn who, as the title suggests, crash weddings. They create identities, ingratiate themselves into the families, and use the euphoria they actually help create at the weddings to get laid. Luckily, that's just the ground work for their characters and is mostly played out in the first 20 minutes. The movie really picks up when Wilson's character falls for the daughter of the treasury secretary and Wilson and Vaughn infiltrate her family's weekend get away. I almost hate to say it, but hilarity ensues. One scene, in particular, at the dinner table had the audience laughing so hard the dialogue was inaudible for a good 3 minutes.
The performances of the supporting cast from the treasury secretary (Christopher Walken), his nympho wife (Jane Seymour), to their daughter and Wilson's love interest (Rachel McAdams) are all solid, but the true stars are Wilson and Vaughn. They are a comedy dream team, each bringing their own brand of humor to the movie. Vaughn brings the jokes at a rapid fire pace, while Wilson brings his own laid back charm. The result is comedic gold.
The movie itself is formulaic, a bit too long, and has one of the most unbelievably pat endings I've seen in a long time, but it's well worth the price of admission. It's the funniest movie I've seen since Anchorman and the best performance from Vaughn since Swingers. So, if you're looking for a nice break from the heat and summer 'blockbusters,' you could do a lot worse than Wedding Crashers. Just don't feel you have to almost die from heatsroke to enjoy it.
So, Saturday was the day we were supposed to move. My mom was going to roll into town with a fully loaded U-Haul that we were going to unload partially at her house, partially at mine and Megan's new house, and then reload and move even more stuff to our house. Instead, mom showed up early. And when I say early, I mean 12 hours early. She pulled into the driveway at 10:00 p.m. on the dot. As soon as she showed up, I knew this was an opportunity not to be squandered. I convinced Megan and mom that the thing to do was start unloading immediately, if not sooner. I mean, why move when it's going be 105 when you can move during the middle of the night when it's a cool 84? Yeah, it was still 84 at 1:00 a.m when we got done! In other words, it was miserable. It was hot and humid and I was sweating from places I didn't know I could sweat from, but we got most of the big stuff moved before we went to bed. Let me tell you, I am so glad we that did, because we finished up on Saturday around noon with a little help from Max, and Dear God, was it hot. I think I drank my own weight in water and never once went to the bathroom. I honestly think the liquid was evaporating before it hit my tongue.
After a well deserved afternoon nap, Megan and I decided to take a break from all the house stuff and joined Max and Tim Lenon for late showing of Wedding Crashers. Now, Megan and I had only been to the theatre to see 2 movies this summer prior to seeing this one, so it might seem like an odd choice. Not odd per se, but not exactly what one would term "high cinema." Man, was it worth it, though. It was so nice to go to theatre after busting our humps for weeks on end and just relax and laugh.
And boy did we laugh. A lot. Wedding Crashers centers around two characters played by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn who, as the title suggests, crash weddings. They create identities, ingratiate themselves into the families, and use the euphoria they actually help create at the weddings to get laid. Luckily, that's just the ground work for their characters and is mostly played out in the first 20 minutes. The movie really picks up when Wilson's character falls for the daughter of the treasury secretary and Wilson and Vaughn infiltrate her family's weekend get away. I almost hate to say it, but hilarity ensues. One scene, in particular, at the dinner table had the audience laughing so hard the dialogue was inaudible for a good 3 minutes.
The performances of the supporting cast from the treasury secretary (Christopher Walken), his nympho wife (Jane Seymour), to their daughter and Wilson's love interest (Rachel McAdams) are all solid, but the true stars are Wilson and Vaughn. They are a comedy dream team, each bringing their own brand of humor to the movie. Vaughn brings the jokes at a rapid fire pace, while Wilson brings his own laid back charm. The result is comedic gold.
The movie itself is formulaic, a bit too long, and has one of the most unbelievably pat endings I've seen in a long time, but it's well worth the price of admission. It's the funniest movie I've seen since Anchorman and the best performance from Vaughn since Swingers. So, if you're looking for a nice break from the heat and summer 'blockbusters,' you could do a lot worse than Wedding Crashers. Just don't feel you have to almost die from heatsroke to enjoy it.
posted by Christian at 11:02 PM
3 Comments:
Everyone should, of course, keep in mind that this movie commentary comes from the man who said, "Dude, Mortal Kombat was an awesome movie... Number two's a sure-fire hit."
However, it was indeed funny... for the first 30 minutes. It succumbed from Saturday Night (Live) Fever: taking a funny idea and thinking you should invest time around a script.
Nonetheless, I still consider Citizen Thom a friend... even when his movie recommendations go astray.
Dangerously astray.
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Not really a fair comparison, since this is a review, hence I have actually seen the movie, whereas I never said anything good about "Mortal Kombat II" after I saw it. Not really an excuse for a severe lapse in judgment, but still.
And I couldn't disagree more about the first 30 minutes of Wedding Crashers, by the way. I thought they were pretty weak. In my opinion the movie didn't even get funny until they got invited to the house for the weekend.
Also, I'm not saying "If you see one movie this summer, see Wedding Crashers." It's funny, yeah, but you can probably wait until video.
Oh, and for the record, I NEVER said Mortal Kombat was "awesome," just that it had some badass fight scenes. And as lame as that movie is overall, I'll stick by that. Mortal Kombat II on the other hand...yeah, Micah's got me on that one.
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