Review: The Wedding Ringer (2015)

To give a summary of this film: I have never laughed so hard or so much in the cinema in my whole life. As the film was only released yesterday (I saw this on Saturday 21st February) I was expecting mega packed screens full of annoying teenagers showing off in front of their friends by shouting random shit during the adverts. We prebooked hours before the film was due to start and picked a late showing just in case. 

THE best scene

We needn't have bothered, as the cinema was only half full (and that's probably being generous). However it meant no awkward elbow armrest battles or finding somewhere to shove my coat and bag. I'd seen the advert for the film before Taken 3 and was surprised how much we all laughed at just the preview, and Kevin "you gon' learn TODAY" Hart in a starring role just the week after we binge-watched all of his stand up shows seemed like a pretty good sign to see this film. I am so glad I did.

"The Boys"

I wasn't expecting much; a generic run-of-the-mill type romcom maybe saved by the natural comedic talent of Kevin Hart. What we got in return was a hilariously eccentric dog-with-rabies-crazy film that had the whole screen belly laughing the whole way through. There wasn't a dud joke or a filler scene. Well, maybe except for when there was about ten minutes dedicated to emotional, slushy dialogue about how women are "naturally more nurturing" and how friendships are so amazingawesomeemotionallyfulfilling. Aside from that every scene is surprising and fresh.

The characters are quite stereotypical and they do generalise men and women, black, white and Hispanic, old and young; but in such a short time frame they haven't got time or capabilities within a comedy to make new and fully rounded characters for the audience to bond with. In this film, stock characters still make for cheek-achingly hilarity that doesn't feel old or overdone. However the soundtrack is great, with forgotten tracks like The Big Bang by Rock Mafia ft. Miley Cyrus - which I'm sure was a reference to Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting who plays the blushing bride annoyingly, bitchily well.

The Bachelor Party

The film obviously took some inspiration from films such as The Hangover and Bridesmaids and definitely Hitch and even from Kevin Hart's own stand up material but that made it no less entertaining. My friend and I predicted practically the whole plot from the very beginning scenes with minor details being incorrect but that didn't take away from how much I rooted for the main characters and was excited to see the comeuppance of the bridezilla. But comedies are, by their very nature, formulaic, and this film didn't try and veer away from standard procedures, but the end result is something I'd happily pay to go and see again.

The film hasn't been advertised nearly enough and if you read the ratings on Google there's not a chance this film will do well; but if you take a chance on this risk-avoiding film you will honestly not be disappointed. Kevin Hart and Josh Gad work so well together and on a second viewing I'm sure more subtle jokes will be found. Ten minutes after we left the cinema I understood the joke Hurley from Lost's character cracks just as the film finishes. For what that is... you'll have to watch and see!

9/10

Jess x