5/10

Crude humor loves rude debauchery in this raunchy comedy similar to 2009’s “I Love You Man”. Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a loveable but socially awkward groom to be with a problem, he has no best man. With less than two weeks to go until he marries the girl of his dreams (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), Doug is referred to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), owner and CEO of Best Man, Inc., a company that provides affordable best men for socially challenged guys in need. What ensues is a hilarious wedding charade as they try to pull off the big con, and an unexpected bromance between Doug and his fake best man Jimmy. I was pleasantly surprised coming out of this film, as it’s not half as bad as i thought it would be with seeing the trailer hundreds of times over the last year. If there is one thing that you are supposed to get out of “The Wedding Ringer”, it’s laughter from arguably the most popular comedian today, Kevin Hart. There are times when Hart feels a little too good for this film, and it’s sophomoric humor, but Hart manages to make it work with great comedic timing. I am about 50/50 when it comes to Hart’s comedies, as i feel he is good when he is just being himself and not trying to be a character. There are plenty of both in this film. There are a lot of witty one liners that go by so quick, it may be best to watch this in DVD to catch all of the laughs. If you were grading the film on comedic banter alone, the film would get a recommending nod. However, it’s the rushed structure, and the kind of scenes it takes from better films that it rips off. The “I Love You Man” story is already there. That’s an easy one. But the film tries to develop an on screen chemistry for Gad and Hart similar to that of Paul Rudd and Jason Segal, and it’s just not there. Gad isn’t someone that i felt was right for 100% of the things needed from his role as Doug. The relationship with Kaley Cuoco doesn’t feel believable, and there is a reason for that revealed by film’s end. If it were that problem alone, i could accept Gad’s muddled performance. The biggest problem is that he is neither charasmatic or interesting enough to spend camera time on. When the film pans to him in scenes, we wish the focus was back on Hart who is taking a watered script and turning it to wine. In addition to the structure of beginning, middle, and end that this film has, the pacing is also full of problems. I was focused on the film and what it was trying to accomplish until i got to the third act. It’s in those final 35 minutes that we feel like the movie has explored every possible road it could take with such an easy plot. The third act deals with not one, but TWO adversities between our two male leads that should’ve already been conquered well before this point near the wedding. The film slows down because it wants us to focus on a serious storyline of loneliness and dying alone from a movie that was strictly sex, penis jokes, lies, and unintelligible humor up to this point. The ending tried to cram too much into the final ten minutes. There are a lot of loose ends to wrap up for Director Jeremy Garelick, and he takes the shortest roads possible with quick explanations and no consequences for the on screen decisions that are made by Gad. Overall, i would recommend the film as a rental. Some people can watch a film and be fine with it as long as it makes them laugh. That is something that this film definitely provides. THe problems i had with the film aren’t necessarily something that everyone is going to have, but i don’t think this movie will move people for it to become the next big comic hit. It’s a rental at best that provides some well timed laughs. If you watch it with friends, expect a good time from a film that is nothing more than a post “Hangover” era comedy.