I am starting to believe there are two sides to Kevin Hart. One, the intelligent comedian that sells out theaters with his great stand-up, satirizes reality with The Real Husbands of Hollywood and stars in films like last year's hilariously sweet About Last Night.
Then there is the latter that wastes his talent on dopey blender comedies like Ride Along and now, comes The Wedding Ringer. Hart and Josh Gad's (Jobs, Frozen) great comedic duo trapped in a half-baked, montage heavy "comedy."
In a world where flimsy storylines exist, this one tops them all. Hart is Jimmy Callahan, a best man for hire.
Yes, I said that right. A best man for hire.
For a fee, he will treat you like you have friends that love you for whom you are and then ditch you.after the best man toast. Forget friendships, it's all about the Benjamins. His next client is Doug Harris (Gad), an international tax attorney recently engaged to Gretchen Palmer (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) who is in need of an entire groomsmen party immediately.Luckily, Callahan has "The Golden Tux" package at 50,000 dollars.
Shockingly, he accepts it and Callahan disguises as "Bic Mitchum", at least the filmmakers want us to remind men to look good and head to your neighborly drug store after. We are to believe he is a military preacher and wait till you meet the groomsmen whom Doug believes "the cast of The Goonies grew up and became rapists."
Uh...sure.
Writer/director Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender's screenplay is like if you threw The Wedding Planner, Hitch, and Wedding Crashers into a blender and hit "frappe." Its a cocktail with all the wrong ingredients and the storyline is excused and replaced with tons of montages! In a 90 min film, I could not believe how many montages there was (15, to be exact) and how long they were stretched out. However, I did like the dancing with Hart and Gad along with the bachelor party until it went too far.
The bright spot is Hart is always gamed to make us laugh and there is no mistake to that here. Especially, when it is just Callahan and Harris bouncing off one-liners with ease. Also, there are sprinkles of a friendship that makes me start to like it and then another crude carousel of montages followed again.
My smile disappeared.
Until the ending when the credits were rolling because I finally could leave the theater.
Finally, I heard rumors about this painting women in a bad light.
No. Are you serious?
About 1/2 of last year's comedies are guilty of that as well (The Other Woman, Sex Tape, and Tammy). Trust me, I saw the bridezilla act over and over which saddened me because Cuoco-Sweeting is trapped in an one-note role and some of the things her character admits to. All I can say is...wow, really?
As a sports fan, I was also annoyed to see some of the gridiron legends pick up some extra change to appear in a dreadful football montage, I mean game. John Riggins (Redskins), Joe Namath (Jets) and Ed "Too Tall" Jones (Cowboys) appeared and I actually was laughing when they were crushing these "likable" characters.
Thanks, January.
Once again, you proved to be the worst month for comedies.
Grade: D+
The Wedding Ringer had a few genuine laughs delivered by Gad and Hart. Though is surrounded by a plot length of a SNL skit, thin character development and enough montages that attempt to mask a bad movie. It is one of the worst of the year.
Fingers crossed for Get Hard in March, another Kevin Hart vehicle with Will Ferrell.
Hope?
Maybe.
Then there is the latter that wastes his talent on dopey blender comedies like Ride Along and now, comes The Wedding Ringer. Hart and Josh Gad's (Jobs, Frozen) great comedic duo trapped in a half-baked, montage heavy "comedy."
In a world where flimsy storylines exist, this one tops them all. Hart is Jimmy Callahan, a best man for hire.
Yes, I said that right. A best man for hire.
For a fee, he will treat you like you have friends that love you for whom you are and then ditch you.after the best man toast. Forget friendships, it's all about the Benjamins. His next client is Doug Harris (Gad), an international tax attorney recently engaged to Gretchen Palmer (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) who is in need of an entire groomsmen party immediately.Luckily, Callahan has "The Golden Tux" package at 50,000 dollars.
Shockingly, he accepts it and Callahan disguises as "Bic Mitchum", at least the filmmakers want us to remind men to look good and head to your neighborly drug store after. We are to believe he is a military preacher and wait till you meet the groomsmen whom Doug believes "the cast of The Goonies grew up and became rapists."
Uh...sure.
Writer/director Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender's screenplay is like if you threw The Wedding Planner, Hitch, and Wedding Crashers into a blender and hit "frappe." Its a cocktail with all the wrong ingredients and the storyline is excused and replaced with tons of montages! In a 90 min film, I could not believe how many montages there was (15, to be exact) and how long they were stretched out. However, I did like the dancing with Hart and Gad along with the bachelor party until it went too far.
The bright spot is Hart is always gamed to make us laugh and there is no mistake to that here. Especially, when it is just Callahan and Harris bouncing off one-liners with ease. Also, there are sprinkles of a friendship that makes me start to like it and then another crude carousel of montages followed again.
My smile disappeared.
Until the ending when the credits were rolling because I finally could leave the theater.
Finally, I heard rumors about this painting women in a bad light.
No. Are you serious?
About 1/2 of last year's comedies are guilty of that as well (The Other Woman, Sex Tape, and Tammy). Trust me, I saw the bridezilla act over and over which saddened me because Cuoco-Sweeting is trapped in an one-note role and some of the things her character admits to. All I can say is...wow, really?
As a sports fan, I was also annoyed to see some of the gridiron legends pick up some extra change to appear in a dreadful football montage, I mean game. John Riggins (Redskins), Joe Namath (Jets) and Ed "Too Tall" Jones (Cowboys) appeared and I actually was laughing when they were crushing these "likable" characters.
Thanks, January.
Once again, you proved to be the worst month for comedies.
Grade: D+
The Wedding Ringer had a few genuine laughs delivered by Gad and Hart. Though is surrounded by a plot length of a SNL skit, thin character development and enough montages that attempt to mask a bad movie. It is one of the worst of the year.
Fingers crossed for Get Hard in March, another Kevin Hart vehicle with Will Ferrell.
Hope?
Maybe.