The Wedding Ringer begins with a tracking shot that could almost be called “bravura.” The camera starts in a kitchen, following a dish’s journey from a prep station, to a waiter’s tray, to a crowded hall where a wedding reception is in full swing. Standing at the center of the soirée is Kevin Hart, who, no matter what disguise he dons, can never veil his obvious Kevin Hartness. In the wedding, as in the film, he’s playing a part, for which he makes a sincere toast to the gathered revelers before marching off for a private conversation with the groom, collecting payment for services rendered, and driving off into the night.
Hart is Jimmy, The Wedding Ringer’s Will Smith equivalent; he’s a cool, smooth-operating professional who offers his talents in image recalibration to dorky guys at a premium price. If you’re a groom-to-be and you don’t have anyone to call “friend,” Jimmy will pretend to be your best bud (and man), and fabricate a chummy history to buttress the lie. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Enter Josh Gad’s character, Doug, who fits that description to a T. He’s the king of all lonely schlubs. He lacks friends of all measures, and so he calls on Jimmy to stand by his side and assemble a crack team of lying scumbags to sub in as his pals.
Remember that word “bravura”? The Wedding Ringer’s introduction hints at a movie that wants to tackle a bunch of real ideas in earnest: the canards and pageantry of the wedding industry, “nice guy” syndrome, platonic male relationships. For a moment, the film gives the impression of well-intentioned shagginess. But as The Wedding Ringer progresses full steam ahead, the only daring it shows is in its willingness to offend with ignorance. Some of its infractions are, in fact, hilarious, at least if puerility tickles your funny bone (and why shouldn’t it?); this is a movie that smothers Gad’s ‘nads in peanut butter and sics a hungry beagle on him. It’s gross, and when that grossness is divorced of the film’s social politics, it’s easy to forgive yourself for engaging it—but oh those social politics.
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