A Few Best Men… could have used some better men.
The story
British backpacker David is getting married, to the beautiful daughter of an Australian politician no less. Unfortunately, David’s three hapless mates are popping over and look set to ruin the wedding through a series of improbable and catastrophic mishaps. Cue crass humour, an unfortunate ram, Olivia Newton John snorting cocaine and a host of unimpressed critics.
Critics not laughing yet
The Guardian called A Few Best Men “more awkward than enjoyable” and observed, “What must have seemed at some point in production to be charming and hilarious arrives on screen as neither of those things.” “It’s all so very charmless,” declared The Independent, branding it “a gross-out comedy of getting ‘wankered’ on the stag night, of sheep molesting, of reckless cocaine snorting, of wedding speeches that keep surpassing one another in ineptitude.” And EMPIRE went so far as to call it “As appealing as a cigarette in a beer can.”
‘A hangover from The Hangover?’
In the hope of matching the success of films such as The Hangover, Bridesmaids and even the film that perhaps started it all; Four Weddings and a Funeral, weddings have become universally acknowledged as excellent comedic fare. However, amidst a proliferation of mediocre marital films, including the recent The Wedding Video, A Few Best Men, may be one wedding-com too much. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, stars Kevin Bishop and Kris Marshall spoke in defence of the genre, saying that it “manages to tick the boxes of everyone. Men like the best man bits……the tomfoolery. And women like the dresses.” However, The Independent labeled A Few Best Men as a fundamentally derivative example of the genre, calling it a “hangover from The Hangover.”
Redeeming features
It’s not all bad, though: Total Film notes that “its desperate efforts to ape The Hangover come with but one redeeming feature – it finally ends.”
More in film
- The Wedding Video is mildly amusing
- Lawless not flawless
- Eerie, brilliant The Imposter is one of the best films of the year
