This is under J for Josh Gag in the leading role
Director: Jeremy Garelick
Writer: Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender (Screenplay)
Starring: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Affion Crockett, Kaley Cuoco, Jorge Garcia, Dan Gill, Corey Holcomb, Ken Howard, Colin Kane
Plot: Two weeks shy of his wedding, a socially awkward guy enters into a charade by hiring the owner of a company that provides best men for grooms in need.
Tagline – Doug needs a best man, in the worst way. Jimmy is the best friend money can buy. But sometimes when you buy a friend, there’s a price to be paid..
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Friendship Comedy
Story: The Wedding Ringer starts on the eve of Doug Harris (Gad) wedding to Gretchen (Cuoco), he has been struggling to find his grooms with only 2-weeks before the big day, Doug turns to Jimmy Callahan (Hart) who runs a company that arranges groomsman for weddings, only for this job needing to become the most challenging for Jimmy, needing to build a whole team.
Doug and Jimmy work together to come up with a completely story to use for the wedding as the whole team get prepared for the big day, where Jimmy learns more about why he does this and Doug gets to live for the first time in his life.
Thoughts on The Wedding Ringer
Characters – Jimmy has his own business where he helps out men who struggle to complete the numbers required for groomsmen or even best man, he has been working for years in this business and now he will be facing his biggest test to date a whole team, this lets his start to reflect on his own life, where he seems to be more about business than friendship. Doug is the businessman that has spent most of his life working noting having time to make friends, which has become a problem for his wedding, which sees him turn to Jimmy instead of telling his fiancée the truth. Gretchen is the bride to be that has the perfect wedding set up in her head, she doesn’t seem to know anything about Doug though.
Performances – Kevin Hart does give one of his better performances, he doesn’t fall into his stand up routine which does make him more interesting to watch, Josh Gad is strong too, though he does need to deal with more slapstick than he should do. Kaley Cuoco is going to have to work very hard to shake the sitcom background, because that does limit her performance skills in the film.
Story – The story follows a man that must hire groomsmen for his own wedding to keep his fiancée happy, only to learn about his own way of seeing life that he might need to change for him to enjoy more from his life. This story does leave us asking more questions than not, because it does seem strange that the fiancée doesn’t know anything about Doug, never met a single friend or stalked him like most partners do. It does have an important message about making time for friends or fun, because it will put a smile on your face for the most part. This story does try to play into the strengths of the actors involved and does seem to borrow from other films too, though it could pass the time through the film.
Comedy – The comedy does play into the strengths of the actors and for once not just having Kevin Hart doing his stand up routine.
Settings – The film is set in the everyday LA life which shows that the family does have a lot more money than most, the wedding is so luxury it is unrealistic for anybody and does return to finding locations.
Scene of the Movie – The bachelor party.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Gretchen doesn’t know Doug hasn’t gotten any friends.
Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that does play into strengths of the actors, while it does seem to give us an unrealistic story.
Overall: Simple Comedy.
