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A somewhat original story and a pair of engaging lead performances made the 2015 comedy The Wedding Ringer one of the more pleasant surprises I've had as a moviegoer.
The film stars Joshua Gad as Doug Harris, a socially inept geek who is scheduled to marry a girl way out of his league (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) in less than two weeks. Unable to find someone to serve as his best man, Doug is led to one Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), the president and CEO of a company called The Best Man Inc., where Jimmy, for a price, agrees to be a groom's best man and providing for the groom all that being a best man entails. Jimmy's business is so successful that he has a pamphlet outlining the different packages he provides in terms of service to the groom. Jimmy is also so good at what he does that the grooms begin to believe that he really is their best friend and Jimmy finds himself always having to remind the grooms that what he is doing is strictly business. Doug offers Jimmy $50,000 to pull off a package not on the pamphlet called "The Golden Tux", which includes a bachelor party and seven groomsmen.
Director and co-writer Jeremy Garelick has crafted a story that asks the viewer to accept a lot but it also delivers a lot, particularly in the area of lead characters that we instantly care about. We are put behind Doug from the opening scenes where he tries to get a best man on his own and we are behind Jimmy when it is clear that he has a lot of experience doing what he does, asks all the right questions, and provides all the correct answers in being a believable best man. The relationship between these characters is set up from the beginning but one line of dialogue changes everything and we find ourselves looking at a completely different story that shifts gears and delivers some surprises in storyline that we don't see coming at all, even if it takes just a little too long to get there.
Gad makes Doug a completely lovable hero and he is a perfect straight man to Hart, whose slick Jimmy Callahan has the charisma of a young Eddie Murphy, providing laughs where he should and heart where he should. And most importantly, it is the surprising chemistry between these two characters that make this movie worth investing in. This is a film filled with silly situations, some outrageous characters, some viable comic action but it also has heart and a surprising integrity for a comedy that was quite refreshing.
A somewhat original story and a pair of engaging lead performances made the 2015 comedy The Wedding Ringer one of the more pleasant surprises I've had as a moviegoer.
The film stars Joshua Gad as Doug Harris, a socially inept geek who is scheduled to marry a girl way out of his league (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) in less than two weeks. Unable to find someone to serve as his best man, Doug is led to one Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), the president and CEO of a company called The Best Man Inc., where Jimmy, for a price, agrees to be a groom's best man and providing for the groom all that being a best man entails. Jimmy's business is so successful that he has a pamphlet outlining the different packages he provides in terms of service to the groom. Jimmy is also so good at what he does that the grooms begin to believe that he really is their best friend and Jimmy finds himself always having to remind the grooms that what he is doing is strictly business. Doug offers Jimmy $50,000 to pull off a package not on the pamphlet called "The Golden Tux", which includes a bachelor party and seven groomsmen.
Director and co-writer Jeremy Garelick has crafted a story that asks the viewer to accept a lot but it also delivers a lot, particularly in the area of lead characters that we instantly care about. We are put behind Doug from the opening scenes where he tries to get a best man on his own and we are behind Jimmy when it is clear that he has a lot of experience doing what he does, asks all the right questions, and provides all the correct answers in being a believable best man. The relationship between these characters is set up from the beginning but one line of dialogue changes everything and we find ourselves looking at a completely different story that shifts gears and delivers some surprises in storyline that we don't see coming at all, even if it takes just a little too long to get there.
Gad makes Doug a completely lovable hero and he is a perfect straight man to Hart, whose slick Jimmy Callahan has the charisma of a young Eddie Murphy, providing laughs where he should and heart where he should. And most importantly, it is the surprising chemistry between these two characters that make this movie worth investing in. This is a film filled with silly situations, some outrageous characters, some viable comic action but it also has heart and a surprising integrity for a comedy that was quite refreshing.