The Wedding Ringer Review
Random fact – both Josh Gad and Kevin Hart made their screen debuts in 2002 – which is quite a while ago by any reckoning. And it was in that same year that screenwriters Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender first started shopping their script The Golden Tux.13 years later, the film is in cinemas, with Garelick even getting the chance to direct after a tortuous journey to the screen. And while the result may not be anything resembling a masterpiece, there was some merit to pursuing it for so long.Admittedly most of its plus points come from the pairing of comedy chaps Hart and Gad. They’ve got decent chemistry on screen and their relationship is that bit more complicated than the Rogen and Franco and Apatow bromances we’ve become so used to seeing.The film also mixes some slightly more dramatic and considered comedy with enough pratfalls, junk jokes and setting the elderly on fire to appeal to most audience types. None of the gags are extraordinary but they get the job done.Still there are contrivances aplenty for a film which presumably had more than a decade for rewrites. For a start, there’s absolutely nothing believable about the supposedly happy couple who are about to get married and no attempt made put audiences at ease. It also suffers from never really establishing any kind of antagonist, making the payoff feel a bit weak.The Wedding Ringer does serve up laughs though, and that instantly makes it better than many so-called comedies. It’s also nice to see a studio release which is happy to go out with an R-rating and yet one that doesn’t revolve too much around bodily fluid humour. If nothing else, it makes me look forward to seeing Gad and Hart work together again in the future.Kevin Hart and Josh Gad star in this comedy about what happens when you just don't have any friends for your wedding party
