CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 7/14/05

Best Men

By Jeff goldsmith

Two divorce mediators crash weddings in order to procure booze and broads; but what happens when one of them falls in love? The right script with the right casting means big box office for this hilarious comedy.

Wedding Crashers

Steve Faber & Bob Fisher

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are longtime friends who crash weddings for food, booze and, of course, bridesmaids. But when Beckwith falls in love with the bride's sister, Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), he puts both his friendship and the art of wedding crashing at risk because he's breaking the cardinal rule of wedding crashing: never falling in love. Beckwith and Klein journey into deeply comedic territory when they're invited back to the Clearys' estate for the weekend and fight to maintain their façade as Beckwith tries to land his newfound love. Thus a classic central question is posited: can Beckwith get the girl and keep his friendship intact?

TV writers Steve Faber and Bob Fisher (The Bonnie Hunt Show) crash into the feature world with one of the funnier R-rated films to come along in years. The set-up of two friends crashing weddings is a hilarious one, but as Faber and Fisher told Creative Screenwriting Magazine, their pitch was at first rejected by every major studio! When New Line finally signed on, Faber and Fisher's dreams came true when stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson attached themselves. To make matters even more idealistic, no team of rewriters were hired to dilute Faber and Fisher's great script -- they were kept on for the complete production to manage their material as needed.

What works about Wedding Crashers is that it begins with a funny concept -- crashing weddings -- but Faber and Fisher were mature enough to know that even such a solid set-up would quickly get tired. That's why the wedding crashing only occurs during act one, and then the story escalates to a whole new level in act two as Beckwith and Klein crash a private family weekend. Thus when Beckwith and Klein arrive at the Cleary mansion for the weekend, this somewhat gimmicky comedy turns into an R-rated screwball comedy and a comedy of errors as Beckwith and Klein learn that Cleary's family is much crazier than they ever could have counted on.

As usual, Vaughn and Wilson bring excellent performances to the screen. But don't be so taken in by them that you forget that it's Faber and Fisher's excellent script working overtime in the background. From their initial pitch document to early drafts of the script, Faber and Fisher laid out almost every single major set-piece in the film, and were also responsible for the great dialogue flowing throughout. Of course, Vaughn and Wilson added some improvisation of their own, which is to be expected (and appreciated) by bringing in such accomplished actors. And, let's not forget, that in comedies especially, dialogue can evolve once the film's on its feet. Yet as Faber and Fisher explained, most of the improvisation involved adding an extra line or two of dialogue on top of the dialogue they had written, rather than replacing their dialogue.

What's also unique here is that Vaughn and Wilson were very involved with giving Faber and Fisher workable notes that ended up positively affecting the third act, which makes Wedding Crashers one of the stronger comedic collaborations in recent memory. And the romantic element works organically here, as opposed to the countless contemporary comedies which toss such material in only for good measure. Here the realization that marriage may yield an upside for these two bachelors who've finally met their matches really becomes the icing on Wedding Crashers cake.

Some critics may harp on a few tiny logic holes in the narrative, but anyone doing so is clearly missing the really well-written comedy exhibited in Wedding Crashers. Steve Faber and Bob Fisher's excellent feature debut includes hilarious comedic set-pieces, along with characters and dialogue have instantly made them writers to watch. Set your watches -- don't be late to the wedding of the year!

Read the full Wedding Crashers interview in the current issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine, on stands now!

Wedding Crashers
New Line Cinema
Rated R; 113 min.

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Jeff Goldsmith is senior editor for Creative Screenwriting magazine and serves as the Los Angeles Events Coordinator in charge of the Creative Screenwriting screening series.

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