Nearly 90% of the trailer material for Wedding Crashers plays out in about the first 15 minutes of the film. While we have no reason to suspect otherwise from the trailers, Wedding Crashers isn’t about two wedding crashers so much as it is a standard rom-com triggered by the idea that our couples met at a wedding where the two men hadn’t been invited.

Thus launches the premise for the rest of the story. John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) fall for sisters Claire (Rachel McAdams) and Gloria (Isla Fisher) respectively. The two are invited to the family’s house where they try to mingle in with the strange group. John and Jeremy have made up stories about themselves, so they spend a good deal of time trying to convince everyone that they’re legit while the screenwriters similarly try to convince us that these are really good guys, despite their behavior.

John’s relationship with Claire is given the emphasis as he competes with her already-established boyfriend. Both John and Claire are likable characters, and the romantic tension builds well. Jeremy’s relationship, on the other hand, is there for nothing more than absurd laughs, moving inexplicably from Jeremy’s love for Gloria, to revulsion, back to love. Wedding Crashers is also a buddy-comedy, working eventually with a relationship conflict between John and Jeremy on top of the romantic storylines.

But it’s really just about the laughs. And they are certainly there. I don’t think I laughed harder in a 2005 release so far. A good deal of it is crass, and much of it is silly, but Wilson and Vaughn work best by filling familiar roles. Wilson’s droll remarks are in top form and Vaughn plays a Stiller-esque role better than Stiller himself probably would have played it.

If it weren’t for the humor though, Wedding Crashers wouldn’t have much to say for itself. When scenes, entire storylines, and whole characters and developed purely on behalf of the laugh, it had better be getting them. Fortunately, Wedding Crashers does.

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