HUB Movie Review: The Wedding Ringer
“I want my real life to be as fun as the one I made up.”
Oh, honey. That’s not how this works. *sigh*
Doug (Josh Gad, Frozen) is about to get married to the woman of his dreams, but he doesn’t have a best man…nor does he have seven other groomsmen. To make it appear to his fiancé Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, The Big Bang Theory) that he has as many friends as he says he does, he hires Jimmy (Kevin Hart, Ride Along) from the BMI: Best Man, Inc. Together, they have to pull the stunt that they’ve known each other for years, as Jimmy becomes Doug’s made up friend Bic. Oh, and the other seven groomsmen? Jimmy finds three friends and then holds auditions for the other four. The fake identities have been given out. What could go wrong?
The Wedding Ringer definitely fell into the bad movie column by critics. Over at RottenTomatoes, it was rotten with 28 percent, yet 73 percent of it audiences liked it. IMDb users were a bit less lenient, rating it at 6.9. And finally, MetaCritic rated it at 35 with mostly negative reviews (someone even gave it a big, fat zero!), and its users gave it 4.
On the Penn State Scale...
1—when Penn State loses a game,
2—an 8 a.m class (which are awful),
3—a canceled 8 a.m class,
4—free books for a year,
and 5—free Creamery for a year,
The Wedding Ringer, without a doubt, is probably the most…utterly horrible movie yet. It gets a 1. With that being said, where do I even begin?
On the positive side: the acting was well done by the two leading men. Gad and Hart are fantastic comedians and they pull off the comedy here…most of the time. They seem to genuinely care and feel about their characters’ issues as they go through the scenes. They have great chemistry, so their pairing works.
Here’s the “but” factor…
Though the acting chops are on point, it does not make up for its stupidity. It’s low-level comedy, which will be enjoyed mostly by men (this movie is about a guy, who hires a guy, and that guy then hires seven more guys), as the men are the focus as they do lots of man stuff and try to get laid (most of them). Meanwhile, there’s like four women (and they’re all supporting actresses!). So, it’s a guy movie. I’m not criticizing that, but it may not be enjoyed by the wider audience as the humor is for a specific audience. Just a heads up.
Meanwhile, the story is pretty lame, too. It’s so cliché by now, to hire/bargain with someone for a wedding to get away with something even though the entire time it’s a complete ruse. Yet, I thought it had potential that this could be worth a watch, despite the cliché. Having a movie that spoke truly of “bromance” and male bonding seemed to be on the horizon, but it all went down into chaos. It went too far with absurdities and downright offensive things. Yes, comedies usually brush off stereotypical and sexist things as something to laugh at, but should you be laughing? What is really the message here?
I will admit though that I probably would have found it funnier if I watched it with a group of people. Silly comedies usually are much better with company compared to when you watch it alone…which I did. So if you do end up packing into the HUB with some friends, you will probably L-O-L at some parts, while alone you will give a smirk.
In finality, I do give the movie chops for having a very good surprise ending. I did not see the big finale coming, so that helped pull the movie to the “1” score. So though most of it’s predictable, the ending wasn’t. Good job…
Sofia Westin is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism and economics. To contact her, email sgw5090@psu.edu.
