A Few Best Men (2011)

Sadly Over-hyped

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

"A Few Best Men" meets my first and primary criterion for a comedy film, that it offers many laughs. Comedy takes many forms and not every joke is right for every audience. Some will doubtlessly find the scatological humor offensive. However, the film offers a wide range of humor from burlesque physical comedy to comic irony. The filmmakers employ a range of comic techniques including running gags, 1-2-3 punches, pratfalls, sarcasm, sight gags, etc. Much of the film is familiar. It doesn't break much new ground that hasn't been explored in similar films such as "I Love You, Man," "Wedding Crashers," "The Wedding Ringer" and other comedies. But the cast approach their roles with such vitality that the material seems fresh. There are numerous similarities to "The Hangover" and its sequels. We don't actually witness the bachelor party. A tight group of four friends is threatened by the marriage of one. One of the best men is a sybaritic mischief-maker who introduces drugs into the equation. The protagonist and his three sidekicks must repair the damage they caused without the bride or future in-laws becoming the wiser. There are complications with criminal elements and identical bags are switched. But the cast and filmmakers manage to make the material seem fresh. As long as the laughs keep rolling, one doesn't stop to analyze similarities to other films. While the humor is raucous, ribald and uninhibited, it also seemed more restrained, particularly compared to the Hangover films. Some scenes felt as if they could have been pushed much further. The initial encounter with the drug dealer became weird, but could have been much weirder. A large rolling object creates havoc, but much of it is offstage and it only rolls once. We see some bare male backsides, but no other nudity and only one outfit is destroyed, although it is subjected to multiple humiliations. It would have been nice to see outtakes during the credits. Production values were more than adequate. Performances were solid with particular kudos to Kris Marshall. It would be easy to dismiss the film as derivative, but whatever it lacks in originality is more than compensated for by the energy of its performers.

Really enjoyed this movie. I usually don't go for raunchy humor but this was fun to watch. The deadpan delivery was spot on and Olivia cutting loose at the end was hilarious. I love it when she plays characters who have a wilder or darker side. If you are looking for Oscar material you will be disappointed. If you just want to laugh and enjoy yourself this movie is for you. For those of you who get upset about the gay jokes and the Brit-Aussie thing you just need to relax. It was funny because it was inappropriate. I am all for being sensitive to people's feelings but sometimes I think we get so PC we suck the life out of everything.

You meet the girl of your dreams, and with the feeling being mutual, decide to fast track the romance into marriage. It's one of the big decisions in life, and so you engage some help from your pals, who happen to be some of the most disorganized bunch ever, unintentionally lining up what would be one of life's most memorable events with a series of mishaps and accidents that are just waiting to happen, from run ins with drug dealers, abuse of drugs and drink, and an animal featured somewhere as well. No this is not The Hangover films, although at first glance A Few Best Men may seem to tread on similar territory.Unlike the American films that focus on extreme shenanigans, A Few Best Men may deal with similar wedding blues in comedic fashion, but was rather a bit more restrained in its grossness, although toilet humour is something staple that is never too far away and utilized when there's a need to for maximum effect. This Australian production follows a more British route with witty repartee, and quirky, zany characters peppering the landscape, with probably the only sane people in the entire film being the groom David (Xavier Samuel) and his bride Mia (Laura Brent).The titular characters refer to David's best mates Tom (Kris Marshall) who's usually the catalyst of problems with his indifferent attitude, Graham (Kevin Bishop) the somewhat dim witted follower, and Luke (Tim Draxi) who still can't get over the break up with his ex. Together they lend support to David as his best men for his wedding, making that round the world trip from England to Australia. Mia on the other hand comes from a political family, with a senator for a dad in Jim (Jonathan Biggins) whose more than proud to turn his daughter's wedding into political gain, wife Barbara (Olivia Newton-John, probably the largest name in this ensemble), and sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson last seen in What To Expect When You're Expecting). With worlds so different colliding together, sparks fly in similar, slowly but surely fashion to Meet the Fockers, with a scene being somewhat of a lift off The Hangover when the stag's night out turned into one big blur.A Few Best Men sees the long awaited return by director Stephan Elliott, who did the acclaimed Priscilla Queen of the Desert. And I have to admit unabashedly that I'm somewhat of a fan of writer Dean Craig's work, after what he did with Death at a Funeral, dealing with something similar with family and friends' shenanigans standing out during life's ceremonies, and in a way this film seemed like a spiritual companion to his earlier work for the way it encompassed rip tickling moments over one of life's major rituals. It's basically Murphy's Law put on display here, with everything that can go wrong actually do go wrong, with a couple of surprise (some may argue convenient) twists thrown in for good measure.The soundtrack is also noteworthy in the film, consisting of mostly evergreens and oldies from the 60s and 70s, and having Olivia Newton-John lend her vocals as well. In fact, her character becomes what would be the live wire of the film as it wore on, together with Kris Marshall and Kevin Bishop drawing the loudest of laughs thanks to their subplot involving their quest for weed from which everything got intricately tied to no thanks to their being stuck with contraband drugs, and being quite inept in helping the groom settle and solve the mess they got everyone into.If one is game for ensemble films and buddy type ones where the inevitably lessons extracted will be themes on brotherhood, friendship and family, with lots of laughs thrown in from good measure, then A Few Best Men would be your choice this week during the summer season breather in between blockbusters hitting the cinemas. Highly recommended!

I usually like Brit humor and, to be honest, movies that make me cringe I don't usually find entertaining. Other than the most vomitous soundtrack I have ever subjected my ears to this was NOT as bad as some reviewers have indicated. I don't know why someone that is offended by low brow humor would even watch this kind of comedy. And I find it a LITTLE bit pretentious to expect this movie to be Henry James. For what it was it wasn't too bad. It was predictable in places and , I confess to cringing more than once, but I didn't expect some esoteric mind numbing voyage when I watched the movie and in that I wasn't disappointed. As one reviewer said it wasn't "Death at a Funeral" but I don't feel I have wasted hours of my life.