And in fact, there’s little in the pedigree of The Wedding Ringer – the first big-stakes starring vehicle for comic-actor du jour Kevin Hart – to prepare you for the fact that it’s actually got some laughs in it.
There’s a first-time director (Jeremy Garelick) whose previous writing credit was the Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston alleged comedy The Break-Up. (Vaughn and Owen Wilson were originally slated to star). And there’s a TV star (The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) looking to trade sitcom stardom for romantic comedy cred.
But despite all this – and despite tone-deaf trailers that could scare away ticket-buyers – The Wedding Ringer is a soft-hearted bromance, albeit one dotted with moments of surprisingly out-there bad taste.
Such as? Uh, well there’s this party and a hooker and a dog… ah never mind. Also, an old person is immolated. Blame/credit The Hangover for re-setting the bar of taste for wedding movies.
What saves The Wedding Ringer is two talented leading men, Hart and Broadway veteran Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon), who play off each other like longtime stage partners, and a plot that’s just this side of believable.
Gad plays Doug, a nerdy guy who’s overjoyed that he’s about to marry Gretchen, the kind of hot babe who’d have looked right through him in high school. (This is, of course, training-wheels acting for Cuoco-Sweeting, who has spent hundreds of hours of screen time on TBBT playing the hot babe nerdy guys drool over).
Trouble is, Doug has no actual male friends, and has been lying about it. On the verge of being exposed, he is directed to the slick Jimmy Callahan (Hart), a natural hustler who has focused his skills on a singular con. He is a best-man for hire who, depending on the booking, can be Jewish, a priest, a childhood friend or a guy whose life was saved by the groom.
To Jimmy, Doug represents (you should pardon the expression) the great white whale. Or rather, “the Golden Tuxedo,” a complete fiction with fake best man and groomsmen, and a plausible backstory for each. Considering that Jimmy is choosing his actors from among the ranks of fellow con artists and convicted criminals, it’s clear the elaborate ruse is shaky at best.
With echoes of the Will Smith movie Hitch, a real friendship is forged as the “player” discovers his own life may be as pitiable as that of the “losers” he services. Gad is a puppy dog who finds his spine, and their dual arcs mesh nicely (amid, okay, a certain amount of drug use, alcohol and puking).
There’s a randomness to The Wedding Ringer’s set pieces. Some work well (Hart and Gad dance very well together). Others, like an impromptu touch football game with Joe Namath, John Riggins and Ed “Too Tall” Jones, seem utterly gratuitous, but are still kind of fun.
The Wedding Ringer is not award season bait, and definitely not a family film. But that was real laughter I heard in the theatre, and the movie doesn’t drag things out until the honeymoon is over.
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