Between predicting every move before it happens and watching the characters make decisions that are so implausible you need to put your hand out, it seems like this movie is destined for eye rolling. But with a premise that begs all kinds of questions before our butts are even in the seats, you must already know what you're getting into.
We have Doug (Josh Gad)--occupation: something that gives him the ability to spend $50,000 on a whim right before his wedding without worrying that his future wife will notice. He has no friends and is trying to show his fiancé that he is worthy of her marriage. Then we have Jimmy (Kevin Hart)--occupation: a wedding ringer who is hired by grooms who have no friends (or Facebook accounts) to deceive their fiancés into thinking that he is their best man. He is hired by Doug to pull of a Golden Tux--a service package which requires Jimmy to find 7 groomsmen for Doug.
After sitting through a semi-slow setup that finds itself fishing for jokes, we get the typical antic-driven premise, much similar to The Hangover. But when you want consistent farce, you mostly get filler scenes, such as the groomsmen versus old men in mud tackle football, a dance montage between Doug and Jimmy, and a bachelor party scene that is pretty empty up until the end. Then the predictable happens, where Doug becomes smitten with a call girl from his bachelor party. But even though we predicted it, we didn't see this happening until Doug had a REASON to fall out of love with his fiancé, Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). At this point, the audience had no physical cue to sense that this was going to happen. And the character acts as if he knows he is going to fall out of love with Gretchen before he even has any reason to.
Although we all know what's going to happen and how this movie is going to end, we don't dislike it. And the reason for that is the humor. It's so smart and witty, with compliments to director, Jeremy Garelick, who makes up for his story arc mistakes with sharp cuts that help the jokes reach their maximum potential. Kevin Hart and Josh Gad are good together and display chemistry. However, I would have liked to have seen a better utilization of Gad as the straight-man. But where it's used, it's really funny. The group of groomsmen hired by Jimmy make you laugh-on-site as they all shine wonderfully without taking away from the stars.
While this film may be painfully unrealistic and ridiculously predictable, it has some touching moments and will no doubt make you laugh out loud a lot.
Twizard Rating: 76
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