Crash Into Me

I watched THE WEDDING CRASHERS for the first time last night, via cable. I don't watch too many of what passes for comedy movies these days, because most of them fall under the catagories of sophomoric parody (which somehow I don't find as funny as I did movies that came out when I was a sophomore -- go figure) or super-formulaic romantic comedy. But I could see why this one made money. It pulled off the trick of taking two lead characters who are absolute jerks at the beginning, and making us root for them by the end. The secret is to create characters with multiple levels, and having them played by actors who both inhabit their roles and work well together. (It also helps to have a villain who's far more of a jerk than the main characters.) It's a bit startling to have Christopher Walken playing the aristocratic paterfamilias, but it works well. Recommended.