adam
For a flick that runs just over the 1.5 hour mark, “The Groomsmen” is well worth your time to take a look at. If you’ve stayed a fan of Burns over the years, this is going to just add to your catalogue in the form of another great film from him
Edward Burns, Donal Logue, Jay Mohr, John Leguizamo, Matthew Lillard, Brittany Murphy, Heather Burns
I gave this one a bit of a plug a little while back in “The Weeksly Late Edition” when it got released in the U.S. as being one of the films that might win back some of the fans that abandoned Edward Burns after “The Brothers McMullen” led into “She’s The One”. Just to be really brief on this, I consider Ed Burns to be a very under-rated guy, as an Actor, Director & Writer. “Brothers”, “She’s The One”, “No Looking Back” & “Sidewalks Of New York” are even better to me now than they were when they were originally released, and alongside straight acting roles like “Saving Private Ryan” & one of my favourite flicks, “Confidence” – I like the guy, and was looking forward to seeing this one for some time.
“The Groomsmen” follows the story of five friends, Paulie (Burns), Jimbo (Donal Logue), Mike (Jay Mohr), T.C. (John Leguizamo) & Dez (Matthew Lillard) in the days leading up to Paulie’s wedding, and in turn runs the familiar themes of dealing with past mistakes, failed romances & finally becoming fully-fledged “Adults”. To say this is a cross between “The Last Kiss” & “Beautiful Girls” is a bit of an understatement, but to dismiss it as a clone would be a mistake. As with all Burns films, the characters are well written, and even though some of the turns of plot may be overly familiar to the casual viewer, the acting shines through, and this is perhaps where I can pay one of the biggest compliments towards this film – with the exception of Burns & Leguizamo, I really am not a fan of most of the actors in the movie, but they all won me over here, Mohr (who I’ve only ever liked in “Go”), Logue & even Matthew Lillard (who I’ve just plain never liked) all show exactly what they are capable of when someone gives them the right kind of material, and allows them a bit of free run to really work within the movie – good stuff all around from the lads. That’s not to say that it’s all about the boys, Brittany Murphy, Shari Albert, Jessica Capshaw & Heather Burns all do their part to add a bit of girly charm to the film, and though they definitely play second fiddle to the boys – again, the characters are such that you won’t really notice the testosterone slant.
For a flick that runs just over the 1.5 hour mark, “The Groomsmen” is well worth your time to take a look at. If you’ve stayed a fan of Burns over the years, this is going to just add to your catalogue in the form of another great film from him, but more importantly, if you’re one of those people that tuned out after his first few flicks, “The Groomsmen” might just be the one to bring you back.
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Reviewer : Adam Weeks
