Global Product Reviews

One of the funniest and most outrageous comedies of 2005, Wedding Crashers will have you falling out of your chair with laughter. Directed by the underrated David Dobkin, the film features now veteran Hollywood funny men Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in their first film together as the central headliners. TV writers Steve Faber and Bob Fisher author the screenplay, a breakout hit for both, that has to be considered one of the best written comedies of the year. Of course, it helps to have the perfect comic duo delivering the lines, and Wedding Crashers offers just that. The onscreen personas of Vaughn and Wilson compliment each other extremely well, providing a flux between the laid back approach of Wilson and the fast talking banter of Vaughn.

Wedding Crashers follows the lives of two business partners and best friends, John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn). Making their living as divorce counselors, they often mediate between warring couples. But in reality, neither man is married himself. They are, however, loyally dedicated to a set of principles: the wedding crasher rules. Adhering to a specific set of intricately engineered rules for crashing weddings, John and Jeremy share a common passion for wedding receptions and carefree bridesmaids.

When the new wedding season arrives, the two set out in earnest to schmooze with relatives, deliver masterful toasts, and conquer as many beautiful women as possible. No race, religion, or social caste is left untouched by their elite wedding crashing skills. But as the wedding season comes to a close with the ultimate crescendo, the wedding of Treasury Secretary William Cleary’s (Christopher Walken) daughter, the duo’s perfectly laid plans go awry. While chasing after the Secretary’s remaining two daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher), the unthinkable occurs. John breaks a rule by harboring genuine feelings for Claire. Things are further exacerbated when John breaks another rule and accepts an invitation to spend the weekend with the Cleary family so he can get closer to Claire. Masquerading as distant relatives, John must fend off the advances of Claire’s mother Kathleen (Jane Seymour) while also attempting to eliminate Claire’s pompous boyfriend Zach (Bradley Cooper). Meanwhile, Jeremy is tortured by an extended weekend with the clingy and borderline insane Gloria and her crazy brother Todd (Keir O’Donnell). As John gets closer to falling in love with Claire, Zach gets closer to blowing the lid off their wedding crasher conspiracy…

Utterly hilarious in every way, Wedding Crashers features some of the funniest movie scenes of 2005. A brief appearance by Will Ferrell who plays the role of Chazz Reinhold, one of the original wedding crashers, makes the film doubly hilarious. Apparently, Chazz has discovered that grieving women at funerals are easier to pick up than bridesmaids. So, of course, he turns to funeral crashing. The comic sequence where Vince Vaughn gets demolished playing football is ancient slapstick, but hilarious nonetheless. Isla Fisher can be annoying at times, but her character is so ridiculously insane that it become funny to watch her after a while, and some of the pick-up lines and wedding crasher techniques are just as entertaining. Overall, Wedding Crashers is a film you’ll probably want to watch more than once. If anything, just to catch the laughs you missed the first time around…

A real legend is…well, the stuff of legends. But much harder to reproduce on film, because of the depths of human expression that tend to get lost in the business of making it on time, on budget, and on a subject the public will “buy”. Which means 2005’s “Walk The Line” is that rarest of movies, one that dug deep into the story, put it up as it really unfolded, and managed to bag actors that could carry it off.

“Walk The Line” is the hard fighting/drinking/loving story of country icon, Johnny Cash and his love affair with wife June Carter. It lays the foundation for the movie’s focus, and Cash’s real life, by detailing his boyhood in Arkansas, the early death of a brother, and impulsive first marriage that ended in disaster. All of that contributes to the way Cash’s life was already drifting when he sang for Sam Phillips of Sun Records, where he brushed shoulders with another newcomer, Elvis Presley. Chastised for offering a hymn, Joaquin Phoenix rips off a version of Folsom Prison Blues that snags him the prized contract, and sets his foot on a path that will lead him to depths he never dreamed of, and the woman who would pull him out of then, June Carter.

Both Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon who plays June Carter, did their own vocals, which added immeasurably to the reality of their performances. Witherspoon at times was perhaps a tad too ebullient, but also managed to reach inside herself to pull out both the feminine side of Carter, and her fury at Cash’s moral and physical deterioration as their relationship progressed from an initial backstage meeting to the final, enduring chapter written at the Folsom Prison concert.

Not strictly a love story, “Walk the Line” is nonetheless a sometimes moving, infuriating, and emotionally charged tale of two people both struggling towards the same goal- to be with each other.

Director: James Mangold
Producers: Alan C. Blomquist, James Keach, Cathy Konrad
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Ginnifer Goodwina

Nominated for five Academy Awards, and winner of the Oscar for Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon), Walk The Line chronicles the life and times of legendary country music star Johnny Cash with an intense, and sometimes dark, intimacy. Following on the heels of the previous year’s Oscar Award-winning picture Ray, based on the life of Ray Charles, I entered the theater under the mistaken impression that Walk The Line would be a cookie-cutter attempt to capitalize on the various themes of that picture’s commercial success. But although the dramatic personal struggle with drug addiction is prevalent in both films, Walk The Line was more than able to stand on its own as a powerful and impressionable big screen biography. And just like the aforementioned film, you leave Walk The Line with a renewed interest in the music of Johnny Cash and a deep personal attachment to the lives of Cash and his likeable wife, June Carter.

Directed by James Mangold, the talent behind such notable films as Kate & Leopold (2001) and Identity (2003), Walk The Line begins in the rough and tumble world of Depression-Era Arkansas where a young Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) tends to the family cotton farm with his parents and older brother. Early on, a family tragedy strains the relationship between Cash and his father, providing a glimpse into the epic moment that would shape his life forever. Soon after, the film jumps to the early 1950s where Cash perfects his guitar talents while stationed overseas in the Air Force. His marriage to high school classmate Vivian Liberto lands the two in Memphis where Johnny supports the family as an appliance salesman while pursuing his musical interests on the side. Here, Cash founds The Tennessee Two with bassist Marshall Grant (Larry Bagby) and guitarist Luther Perkins (Dan John Miller), and the trio plays its way to a music deal with local label Sun Records.

As part of a promotional campaign, Cash is put on tour with other “rockabilly” newcomers Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton), Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), and Carl Perkins (Johnny Holiday). But during his tour with the quartet, the life of Johnny Cash takes numerous turns. He meets the affable June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), begins an addiction to amphetamines and alcohol, and watches his marriage to Vivian deteriorate under the strain of his constant absence. All three would come to define the next fifteen years of Cash’s life as he struggled to triumph over his personal demons. Despite his all-encompassing drug addiction, Cash nevertheless manages to crank out hits, but his personal life hits rock bottom following bouts with divorce, loneliness, depression, and his continued drug addiction. When Cash reunites with June Carter in a musical collaboration, the magical bond between the two is amplified. But Johnny’s addiction threatens to ruin everything they’ve built together…

The most impressive aspect of Walk The Line, aside from the storyline itself, is the performance of Witherspoon and her counterpart Phoenix. Amazingly, both provide their own voiceovers, and for the casual listener, very little difference can be detected between the Hollywood talents and the real life country music legends they impersonate. Much was made of the performance of Joaquin Phoenix in the days leading up to the film’s release, but I came away more impressed by Witherspoon. Apparently, so did the Academy because they awarded her their highest honor for the role. What stood out the most was the actress’s down-to-earth smile and charismatic mannerisms. She created a character with ample assertiveness, yet one that burst at the seams with an infectious optimism and love for life. As such, the audience can’t help but fall in love with June Carter. In addition, Witherspoon displays an amazing singing voice that accurately captures the distinct and unique aspects of June Carter’s talent. Overall, Walk The Line is a fine film, and a fitting remembrance to the career and life of country music’s greatest icon, Johnny Cash…