Unhappily Ever After watching this
Director: Jeremy Garelick
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Starring: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Jorge Garcia, Olivia Thirlby, Ken Howard
It's two weeks before his wedding, and Doug (Josh Gad) has no friends whom can be his best man and groomsmen. Rather than sit down and explain the situation to his fiancée Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), Doug believes the best method is to lie through his teeth, hiring Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) to pretend to be his best man.
It doesn't feel like asking too much for a comedy to be consistently funny. So why does it seem like a Herculean task for Jeremy Garelick, director and co-writer with Jay Lavender, to inject items which are actually funny? In place of jokes, we get half-assed attempts at physical humor, weak instance of swears, and a lazy instance of a grandma getting set on fire.
That's not even mentioning how emotion is seen as a cowardly response, or the overdose of gay panic which plagues the picture. It all feels very outdated for something released in 2015, especially when the film ends on Jorge Garcia making a Lost reference. At least Josh Gad and Kevin Hart share some good chemistry, even if Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting has little to define her outside getting married, and a turn which makes her an unlikable presence.
The Wedding Ringer is a comedy attempt that's hampered by an archaic script, unlikable characters and a distinct lack of laughs.
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