The Pokrovsky Gates
1982
John and his buddy Jeremy are emotional criminals who know how to use a woman's hopes and dreams for their own carnal gain. Their modus operandi: crashing weddings. Normally, they meet guests who want to toast the romantic day with a random hook-up. But when John meets Claire, he discovers what true love – and heartache – feels like.
David Dobkin
Gloria Cleary
Claire Cleary
Secretary Cleary
Kathleen Cleary
John Beckwith
Jeremy Grey
1/11/2025
6/10
"He thought "Moby Dick" was a venereal disease" - made me smile at the start of this, but after I while I really did wonder if it was ever going to end! "John" (Owen Wilson) and his pal "Jeremy" (Vince Vaughn) are a couple of amorous types who have quite a successful habit of crashing other folks weddings - usually without knowing a soul - and chancing their arm amongst the hormonally vulnerable. Then something unexpected happens and they end up at the mansion of the US Treasury Secretary (Christopher Walken) where the most convoluted of love pentangles occurs between the two boys, "Claire" (Rachel McAdams), "Gloria" (Isla Fisher) and the pompous "Sack" (Bradley Cooper) - and that's before "Todd, the gay son of the house (Keir O'Donnell) takes a bit of a shine to one of them, too! Not only has romance gone into overdrive, but the relationship between the men is starting to strain. Thing is, the family believe the boys are something quite different from their real selves, and the question is as inevitable as the sun coming up. Will they get found out or be forced to admit who they really are, and will they escape with their lives? It has it's moments this, but it's far too long and padded out with most of the fun out of the way after the first twenty minutes. That leaves us with an increasingly orchestrated series of escapades along the rather puerile lines of "American Pie". These men do have comedy timing and their delivery is slick nd professional, but their humour is childish and predictable, as are the scenarios and jokes. It's not that it's bad, it's just dated and unsophisticated. Ellen Albertini Dow quite engagingly keeps up the spirit of Una O'Connor and Mlldred Natwick as the outrageous and curmudgeonly grandmother, but otherwise this wasn't really for me.
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