The Wedding Ringer
Director: Jeremy Garelick
Starring: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting
101 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd
There is a premise with a bit of heart underlying The Wedding Ringer as Doug Harris (Josh Gad) an awkward, friendless lawyer, finds he actually needs to hire a best man for his marriage to the girl of his dreams (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting).
Desperation sets in as the wedding approaches, so Doug turns to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) for help. Jimmy is the owner of Best Man Inc – which does exactly what it says in the box. He takes on his latest challenge by bringing together a rather eccentric group of guys to be Doug’s groomsmen, and, while Doug gets used to the guys, he has to ensure his scheme is not discovered.
There is something rather sympathetically pathetic about Gad’s character and the comedian plays the pathos as well as he does the comedy – which clearly comes naturally to the actor given his equally sympathetic performance as a sex addict in 2013’s Thanks for Sharing – and here Gad gives a solid, well-judged and occasionally funny performance as the lovable loser.
The opening scene where he is pitifully going through his phone records, calling people from his past asking them to be his best man and getting rejected at every turn is comically touching. As the story unfolds and he strives for the perfect wedding because he can’t believe his good luck in landing someone like Gretchen, it is really hard not to root for him.
Moreover, you share his secret hope that he will find a true friend among the collection of misfits Jimmy has hired.
It is a film, however, that is inevitably more interested in the comedic antics of the whole than the more human traits of the story, and it is not long before the bawdy comedy takes over and the warmth is pushed to the side. The whole falls into a series of gags which do little to propel the story forward.
The gags are wearily predictable, retreads of what has gone before
That the gags are wearily predictable, retreads of what has gone before in the likes of the (original) Hangover and numerous wedding-set comedies doesn’t help. And so come the requisite sex and drug jokes which culminate in a loud and raucous bachelor party with painful consequences, while veteran comedienne Cloris Leachman’s grandma is ignominiously set on fire during a family dinner in a gag that seriously misfires, while stalwarts Ken Howard and Mimi Rogers as the bride’s parents look on askance.
Kevin Hart brings his usual schtick of hyper line delivery and loud posturing which soon becomes a tad tiresome. He does share genuine chemistry with Gad and thankfully Hart’s histrionic behaviour is tempered somewhat by Gad’s more restrained performance.
Hart is a popular stand-up comedian who clearly boasts a manic energy, yet he needs to find film material that is suitable to him, and not this predictable bratty stuff which I suspect he can do in his sleep.
The women are merely decorative items – Doug’s fiancée a bit of a one-dimensional, stereotypical controlling shrew; Nicole Whelan is the tart with a heart, while the only woman with any depth is Doug’s future sister-in-law played by Olivia Thirlby, who sadly has little screen time as do the oddball ensemble of rent-a-friends which is a shame as I am convinced that, with a little more effort, they could have upped to comedy factor somewhat.