Released just over 20 years ago, Wedding Crashers helped revive the adult-oriented R-rated comedy, blending raunchy humor with heartfelt romance. While its influence on the genre is undeniable, certain jokes and storylines haven’t aged as gracefully over the past two decades.

Best friends John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are Washington, D.C.-based divorce mediators who moonlight as wedding crashers, aiming to meet women. Their latest target is the wedding of Christina (Jenny Alden), the daughter of U.S. Treasury Secretary William Cleary (Christopher Walken). While there, John becomes attracted to maid of honor Claire (Rachel McAdams), and Jeremy targets the Clearys’ other daughter, Gloria (Isla Fisher). Their night escalates into secret liaisons and flirtations, with Jeremy caught in Gloria’s intense affection and John contending with Claire’s possessive boyfriend, Sack Lodge (Bradley Cooper). The two men are invited to a weekend retreat at the Cleary family estate, where tensions and romantic pursuits intensify.

At the Maryland compound, John and Jeremy navigate complex interactions with the Clearys. John fends off advances from Secretary Cleary’s wife Kathleen (Jane Seymour), while Jeremy faces Gloria’s relentless sexual attention. Gloria’s intensity escalates, leading to increasingly aggressive encounters, while Sack continues to antagonize the men, even during a touch football game. In a bold move, John spikes Sack’s wine to create opportunities with Claire. The weekend lays bare the friends’ desires, rivalries, and moral boundaries, setting the stage for heartbreak, deception, and revelations about love, loyalty, and the consequences of their carefree wedding-crashing exploits.

As John and Claire grow closer, Jeremy grapples with his feelings for Gloria. A series of misadventures—including a hunting prank, bike rides, and intimate moments—solidify John and Claire’s bond, but Sack announces his engagement to Claire, complicating matters. When the friends’ true identities are exposed by Sack, they are expelled from the Cleary estate. In the months that follow, John struggles with heartbreak and nihilism, attempting to reconnect with Claire while Jeremy continues his romance with Gloria. Betrayal, despair, and missed opportunities force John to reevaluate his approach to love, friendship, and the consequences of their reckless lifestyle.

John eventually seeks guidance from Chazz Reinhold (Will Ferrell), a former mentor, who encourages him to reflect on love through a funeral crash. Inspired, John interrupts Jeremy and Gloria’s wedding, professing his love for Claire and confronting Sack’s control. The chaos culminates with Sack being subdued, Jeremy and Gloria tying the knot, and John and Claire finally uniting. Wedding Crashers closes with both couples leaving together and joking about their next wedding-crashing adventure.

There are things to enjoy about Wedding Crashers, but it has aged in a way similar to Judd Apatow’s equally raunchy directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. You have to wonder if filmmakers would change things about the film if given the chance. For starters, Secretary Cleary’s mother, Mary (Ellen Albertini Dow), comes off as racist and occasionally uses homophobic language. The only gay character in the film is William and Kathleen’s artistic son, Todd (Keir O’Donnell), who attempts to seduce Jeremy. And while the Clearys’ class status might explain some of it, there aren’t many Black characters in the film—the most notable being their servant, Randolph (Ron Canada).

But despite its flaws, one cannot ignore the charm Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn bring to Wedding Crashers. Even as they lie about their backgrounds, you can’t help rooting for them. Without their charisma, it would be hard to buy into a premise that’s essentially just two guys crashing weddings to meet women. It also doesn’t hurt that Bradley Cooper was still in the stage of his career where he was typecast as an asshole, before his breakthrough four years later in The Hangover.

Interestingly, Dobkin went with Isla Fisher as Gloria over the likes of Shannon Elizabeth and Anna Paquin. Two decades later, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. I can’t picture Anna Paquin bringing the same energy that Fisher did. Another point worth noting is that McAdams is playing an age-appropriate character in Wedding Crashers, unlike her high school role in Mean Girls just a year prior.

There has been talk of Wedding Crashers 2 for years. At one point, it seemed close to production, only for Owen Wilson’s schedule to make it impossible. A sequel could still happen, but it would need a story that could live up to the original—minus the flaws, of course.

In the end, Wedding Crashers remains a fun, chaotic ride with undeniable charm, even if some of its jokes and attitudes haven’t aged particularly well. Wilson and Vaughn’s chemistry, Fisher’s energy, and McAdams’ grounded performance make it worth revisiting, though modern audiences may find parts of it uncomfortable or outdated. The film captures a particular moment in early-2000s comedy—raunchy, irreverent, and full of mischief—while also reminding viewers how perspectives on humor and representation have evolved.

DIRECTOR: David Dobkin
SCREENWRITERS: Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
CAST: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, with Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Ron Canada, Bradley Cooper, Ellen Albertini Dow, Isla Fisher, Henry Gibson, Keir O’Donnell, and Jane Seymour

New Line Cinema released Wedding Crashers in theaters on July 15, 2005. Grade: 3.5/5

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