Wedding Ringer

Director: Jeremy Garelick
Lead Actors: Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting

                                         Kevin Hart

Producer:
Ben Waisbren

Plot Synopsis
This is about a very successful white man - Doug Harris, played well by Josh Gad, who doesn't have any friends. He manages to convince a beautiful blonde woman from Los Angeles to marry him - not sure how he did that. . .


His bride/dependent to be is played convincingly by Kaley Cuoco Sweeting of "Big Bang Theory fame.

Huh hmm. . .so Harris has a sexy bride to be . . but he still has no friends. We meet him in a plush office making some very awkward, last minute calls to old acquaintances, seeing if they want to be his best man in his wedding.  . . .

There are pauses on the other end of the line when people remind Harris that they really aren't that big of friends in the first place!




Anyway, at the end of these embarrassing phone calls, Gad collapses a glass table and is sitting amongst a million shards of broken glass.


This is the first, but not the last violent hit this protagonist will take in this highly physical comedy that enflames man's most basic senses!

Since Harris is in a fix and needs a best man, his wedding planner recommends someone to him -Jimmy Callahan, played gleefully by Kevin Hart.

Harris has to go to a broke-down miniature golf course and whisper a name to a guy to even get to Callahan's underground office. (All red flags in my book).

The minute Callahan meets Harris, he is in full hustle, sales pitch mode.

Callahan's pitch is well-rehearsed and solid, and slowly he gets his hooks, or teeth, or both into the rich but emotionally vulnerable Harris.

Callahan then convinces him to go for "the golden tux" - the golden tux is the highest and most expensive of Callahan's packages and it's never been done before.

The "golden tux" basically means that Callahan will not only pretend to be Harris' best man with years of history to foil everyone, but he will find 7 or 8 groomsmen to do the same.

They agree on it, and they're excited, but they don't have much time and this is going to be difficult. And away we go . . .

What ensues is a series of predictable situations wherein the two, Gad and Hart, are trying to cover their lies in front of relatives of the bride.

This is the beginning a potentially viable black and white comedy team, potentially.

Hart, who I'm told is 5 foot 5 is like a tireless point guard in this movie, always working his angles, no  matter how badly he messes up and has to back pedal.
Gad's Harris is a punching bag in this movie.

He gets hit from every angle, and at one point nearly gets his testicles ripped off by a dog! I suppose this is all done in the name of comedy, or perhaps it's some sort of Karma he's getting for lying about who his best man is.

The state of Harris' testicles in this movie may not matter, because they sure aren't getting any attention from the beautiful Gretchen Palmer.

She won't even let Harris touch her before the wedding is official-despite the fact that she teases him on a nightly basis.

Overall, in this movie, it's tough to be Gad's Harris, it's great to be Hart's Jimmy Callahan - if he can keep the hustle up (note, after most successful Best Man frauds, Callahan beds the best-looking bridesmaid).

Who Would Like it and Why
The real winning in this movie happens when Hart assembles the groomsmen. 

Callahan distastefully chooses one of the best ever teams of ner-do- wells. It's as if he picked them all from the same San Bernadino unemployment line.

There is a fat guy, a guy who's just out of prison, there is a ripped guy whose only party trick is to rip his shirt off and show his abs, there is another guy whose only party trick is to throw his shoulder out of the socket, then there is the short Japanese guy whose only trick is that he has three balls (a possible shout out to the Fukushima nuclear energy leak brought on by the Japanese tsunami.)

Anyway, this is the crack team Callahan assembles, and they make the whole movie worth while!

While Gad works hard the whole movie at being castrated both literally and figuratively, I was under the impression that Kaley Cuoco Sweeting just needed the money and was calling it in. Hart was calling it in as well, and really wasn't present during the entire movie.

But this crew, this 7 or 8 groomsman, they were quirky, pulled from all over the place, and forced to work together. They were ugly on the outside, but inside they wanted to make this work. 

I dare Garelick or Gad to do a full movie with the groomsman. I think it would be twice as good as the Wedding Ringer!

Who Might not Like it and Why Highlights
I think, honestly, that Hart himself phoned in his performance and that everyone else (aside from Kaley Cuco-Sweeting) was treating it very seriously, or funnily rather.

Hart, though, left a lot to be desired! I can't place exactly what he was doing wrong, he just seemed insincere and there for the pay check. Some of the actors there seemed intent on making something out of this movie.

For some of them, it may be their only movie all year, or their whole lives, while this seemed like just another side hustle for Hart!

I may have confused his character's intentions with Hart's intentions, but I believe and hope that Hart is capable of being a lot better.

I would love to see Hart focused and at a hundred percent and away from his phone for a prolonged period of time!


Two Mike and Ikes