Wedding Crashers: The Release Date And Impact

The 2005 film Wedding Crashers was released on July 15, 2005, in the United States, and on July 13, 2005, in German-speaking regions. The film, directed by David Dobkin, stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as divorce mediators who crash weddings to meet and seduce women. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $288.5 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and became the first R-rated comedy to make $200 million at the domestic box office.

Wedding Crashers' release date

The American romantic comedy film "Wedding Crashers" was released in 2005. It premiered in German-speaking regions and Hamburg on July 13, 2005, and in North America on July 15, 2005.

The film was directed by David Dobkin, written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, and starred Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Christopher Walken, with Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper, and Jane Seymour in supporting roles.

"Wedding Crashers" follows two divorce mediators, John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vaughn), who crash weddings to meet and seduce women. At the wedding of the US Secretary of the Treasury's eldest daughter, they set their sights on the Secretary's other daughters, Gloria and Claire. Jeremy has sex with Gloria, who becomes obsessed with him, while John pursues Claire, the maid of honour, despite her unfaithful and disrespectful boyfriend, Sack Lodge.

The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $288.5 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and became the first R-rated comedy to make $200 million at the domestic box office. The success of "Wedding Crashers" is credited with helping revive the popularity of adult-oriented, R-rated comedies.

The film's success

Wedding Crashers was released in 2005 and became an immediate hit, grossing $33,900,720 in its first weekend in North America. The film opened on July 15, 2005, and took second place at the box office, behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and became the first R-rated comedy to make $200 million at the domestic box office. Worldwide, the film grossed $285,176,741, with $209,255,921 from domestic viewings.

The casting of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the lead roles was a significant factor in the film's success. The duo's chemistry and comedic performances were praised by critics and audiences alike. The supporting cast, including Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper, and Christopher Walken, also contributed to the film's appeal.

In addition to its commercial success, Wedding Crashers received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 186 reviews, with an average rating of 6.72/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Wedding Crashers is both raunchy and sweet, and features top-notch comic performances from Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson." The film also received nominations and awards at the MTV Movie Awards, including Best Movie, On-Screen Team (Vaughn and Wilson), and Breakthrough Performance (Isla Fisher).

Plot summary

Wedding Crashers is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by David Dobkin and starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Christopher Walken. The film follows two divorce mediators, John Beckwith (Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vaughn), who crash weddings to meet and seduce women. At the end of a successful season of wedding crashes, Jeremy takes John to the wedding of the eldest daughter of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William Cleary.

Once inside, the pair set their sights on Cleary's other daughters, Gloria and Claire. During the reception, Jeremy has sex with Gloria on a nearby beach, and she tells him afterward that she was a virgin. Gloria becomes obsessed with Jeremy, while John attempts to court Claire, the maid of honour. However, he is interrupted by Claire's boyfriend, Sack Lodge, who is unfaithful and disrespectful. When Gloria invites Jeremy and John to an extended weekend retreat at their family compound in Maryland, John accepts, hoping to get closer to Claire.

John and Jeremy become acquainted with the Clearys, and the Secretary's wife, Kathleen, makes sexual advances towards John. Gloria continues to pursue Jeremy, massaging his penis at a family dinner and later raping him after tying him to a bedframe. Meanwhile, Sack injures Jeremy during a game of touch football, and John spikes Sack's wine with eye drops to make him sick and get more time with Claire.

The next day, John and Claire go on a sailing trip and bond further. However, Sack remains suspicious and takes John and Jeremy on a hunting trip, where they are pranked and Jeremy is shot in the buttocks. While Jeremy recovers, John and Claire go on a bike ride to a secluded beach and share a passionate kiss. Meanwhile, Gloria tends to Jeremy's wounds and reveals that she lied about being a virgin when they met. Jeremy realises that he has been played and may be in love with Gloria.

John confesses his attraction to Claire, but they are interrupted by Jeremy, who has been chased out of the house. Sack, who has been investigating them, reveals their true identities to the family, and they are asked to leave. Over the following months, John tries to reach Claire, but she refuses to see him. He attempts to sneak into her engagement party with Sack but is caught and beaten. John confronts Jeremy, only to learn that he has secretly continued his relationship with Gloria.

Heartbroken, John spirals into depression and becomes suicidal. Meanwhile, Claire's doubts about her future with Sack grow. Jeremy proposes to Gloria and tries to ask John to be his best man, but John refuses. John seeks help from Chazz Reinhold, a former wedding-crashing mentor, who convinces him to crash a funeral. At the funeral, John reconsiders his beliefs about love and marriage and rushes to Jeremy's wedding, joining the ceremony and professing his love for Claire. Sack interrupts, but Claire finally tells him that she cannot marry him. Jeremy knocks Sack out, and John and Claire kiss. The two couples drive away from the ceremony, discussing crashing another wedding together.

Cast and crew

The 2005 film Wedding Crashers was directed by David Dobkin and written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher.

Owen Wilson stars as John Beckwith, a divorce mediator who crashes weddings with his friend Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) to meet and seduce women. When John falls for Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), a conflict arises between the two friends. Jeremy becomes attached to Claire's sex-crazed sister, Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher), who was played by an actress relatively unknown in the US at the time of casting.

The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary, Jane Seymour as his wife Kathleen, and Bradley Cooper as Sack Lodge, Claire's verbally abusive boyfriend. Ellen Albertini Dow plays "Grandma" Mary Cleary, with Keir O'Donnell as their artistic yet brooding son, Todd.

Notable cameos include Will Ferrell as Chazz Reinhold, an uncredited wedding and funeral crasher who mentored Jeremy, and US Senator John McCain and Democratic strategist James Carville as guests at the Secretary and his wife's daughter's wedding.

Lorraine DeArmott-Boushell is credited with makeup and hair styling, while Richard J. Cartwright is the camera operator.

Reception and reviews

Wedding Crashers received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences. It was released on July 15, 2005, in North America and became an immediate hit, grossing $33,900,720 in its first weekend and opening at #2 in the box office. The film would go on to reach #1 at the box office in its third week.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 186 reviews, with an average rating of 6.72/10. The critical consensus on the website states, "Wedding Crashers is both raunchy and sweet, and features top-notch comic performances from Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson." It received a score of 64 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews", and audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of A-.

Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times praised Vaughn's performance, writing, "Jeremy is the soul of the movie. There's something about Vaughn—the deadpan eyes; the sublimated, misdirected intelligence—that recalls Bill Murray in his 'Caddyshack' years." Chocano was less positive about Will Ferrell's cameo, calling it an "awful interlude". She concluded that the film was "really just a love story about a couple of buddies who live happily ever after. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer, more charming couple". Brian Lowry of Variety described the film as "fairly amusing, fitfully over the top and [...] occasionally a touch homophobic". He praised McAdams, Vaughn's dialogue, and the chemistry between the leads, but wrote that Walken was underused.

Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern called Wedding Crashers "the best comedy of 2005", while Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum described it as "an unabashedly jiggly, bawdy, it’s-all-good comedy". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "It's crude, yes, but also funny; too bad these lost boys can't stay lost. Like clockwork, the film soon mutates from a guy-oriented sex comedy into a wish-fulfillment chick flick". Roger Ebert gave the film a more mixed review, awarding it two out of four stars. He wrote that "there are individual moments that are very funny", but felt that the director, David Dobkin, "has too much else on his mind". British Movie magazine Empire awarded the film three out of five stars, praising the "easy chemistry" between Vaughn and Wilson, but felt that they were "let down by a patchy script which squanders some potentially priceless set-ups".

Kimberley Jones of The Austin Chronicle was more negative, writing that the film "will no doubt make buckets of money, but it'll do so without half the wit, compassion, or inspired madness" of There's Something About Mary. Jones took issue with the portrayal of minorities, writing, "gays and blacks are represented, respectively, by a squirrelly psychotic and a Jamaican house servant". Scott Meslow of GQ also gave a negative review, writing in 2018 that "even beyond the gender and sexual dynamics that have aged rather poorly, Wedding Crashers feels awfully uneven today". Meslow criticised the film's date-rape joke, lack of developed female characters, use of the "sassy racist grandmother trope", and portrayal of predatory gay men.

Despite some mixed reviews, Wedding Crashers proved to be a commercial success, grossing $288.5 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and became the first R-rated comedy to make $200 million at the domestic box office. The success of the film has been credited with helping to revive the popularity of adult-oriented, R-rated comedies.

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