By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
While the early aughts were pretty hit or miss for Hollywood, this era excelled at producing one fan-favorite genre: the blockbuster comedy. I’m talking about the kind of funny pictures we don’t get anymore. The ones that produced the kinds of hilarious lines that we’re still repeating decades later. And one of the best examples of this is Wedding Crashers, a seminal romantic comedy you can now stream on Netflix.
Wedding Crashers On Netflix
Wedding Crashers has a simpler plot than most romantic comedies on Netflix: we follow the adventures of two divorce mediators who regularly crash weddings under fake names to hook up with women. However, their plans go sideways when they each get involved with the daughter of the same powerful political figure. Even as our protagonists worry about whether they are developing real feelings for their latest marks, their wedding crashing ways land them in trouble that, for once, they can’t simply charm their way out of.
The main characters’ charisma is that much more believable because Wedding Crashers has a stacked cast you don’t often find on Netflix, including Owen Wilson (best known outside of this film for The Royal Tenenbaums). The other male lead is Vince Vaughn, arguably best known for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Meanwhile, the film’s female love interests are played by Rachel McAdams (best known for The Notebook and Mean Girls) and Isla Fisher (best known outside of Wedding Crashers for Confessions of a Shopaholic).
In addition to the core cast, Wedding Crashers has more of a star-studded supporting cast than the average Netflix film thanks to its solid budget (more on this soon). Supporting cast members include quirky movie maestro Christopher Walken, leading man breaking bad Bradley Cooper, and memorable Bond girl Jane Seymour. There are even some fun surprise cameos in the film from the likes of musical icon Dwight Yoakam and raunchy comedy legend Will Ferrell in an uncredited role.
Wedding Crashers was a very lucrative film back in an age when Netflix simply rented out DVDs. Against a budget of $40 million, the movie earned $288.5 million. This was successful enough to merit discussion about a sequel, but that intended follow-up film never came to pass.
However, the movie did inexplicably get a short-lived prank TV show spinoff called The Real Wedding Crashers that NBC canceled after only four episodes. Additionally, film director David Dobkin directed the music video for Maroon 5’s song “Sugar” which featured the band crashing real weddings in a cheeky homage to Wedding Crashers.
In addition to its solid box office success, Wedding Crashers also managed to impress the critics. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a critical score of 75 percent. Critics generally praised the hilarious performances of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as well as the movie’s potent combination of raunchy laughs and sweet moments.
If you’re still not convinced that you should stream Wedding Crashers on Netflix, consider this: when a comedy has a cast this talented, someone is guaranteed to give you a few good laughs. For example, you might not be the biggest fan of Vince Vaughn or Owen Wilson, but acting titans like Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell provide consistent laughs and steal each of their scenes. Plus, the gals in this film give as good as they get, so if you really do hate Vaughn and Wilson, then watching Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher put these fellows in their place is quite rewarding.
Additionally, Wedding Crashers has something that most Netflix comedies lack: major cultural impact. Fans have repeated the funniest lines from this film for literal decades, and some of them have simply become part of our modern lexicon. For example, the popular phrase “stage-five clinger” was written for this film and has become the best descriptor for when someone is a little too into someone else.
Will you find Wedding Crashers as crassly funny as I did when you stream it on Netflix, or is this one film you’ll never cling to? You won’t know until you crash this party for yourself. Just don’t blame me when you end up quoting the film for the rest of the week (or maybe your life) after watching this raunchy comedy that could never be made today.
