Old School was ok, but I swear I’m punching out the next person who yells out “You’re my boy blue!” It’s not an instant classic or anything.
Wedding Crashers was horrible dreck with giant gaping plot holes thrown in just to make me even more annoyed with it (Where do they keep getting clothes to change into every 5 minutes? The first scene at the house they’re clearly wearing ill fitting and ugly clothes that were borrowed. After that, they have an endless supply of regular sport clothes. What gives? And the part where Owen Wilson gets all depressed and won’t talk to Vince Vaughn for what seems like months….Don’t they work together? How do you not go to work for months and keep your house and stuff?)
My main problem with these sophomoric styled comedies is that besides a funny plot device they have nothing to go on. These are always the movies where the funniest stuff is in the beginning half of the movie, and then they die an aimless death as they try to work in a story.
Didn’t see Wedding Crashers, but my husband & I watched Old School when it came out on cable, because people at work told him it was hilarious. We watched & waited for the hilarity to kick in, but if it did, we didn’t catch it. We chalked it up to the folks at his work being much younger than us. (Are we this over-the-hill at almost-40?)
The problem here is you’re comparing different styles of comedy.
For instance I have a friend who loathes anything slapstick, so any movie that contains slapstick humor is automatically shit in his eyes. Yet he will die laughing at anything with what I want to call obtuse humor (Zoolander, Napoleon Dynamite). Either of these type of movies may become the hit-du-jour; there is no consistency to popularity of comedy.
It’s really difficult to compare comedies across sub-types.
I figured I wouldn’t like “Anchorman” and when I saw it, my previous opinion was confirmed with every second that flashed onscreen. Without a doubt the least funny comedy movie I’ve ever seen.
I’d heard all about “Old School” and assumed I would hate it. That one turned out to okay. Not hilarious, but was able to keep my interest.
I had originally assumed that “Wedding Crashers” would suck but people I know and respect kept telling me how knee-slappingly hilarious it was. I saw it and had much the same reaction as I had to “Old School” - Meh. I found much of the humor to be far too broad for my taste (that gay artist little brother was the most irritating caricature of a person that I could imagine in that movie).
If a movie contains Will Ferrell, Jack Black or Vince Vaughn I will automatically run away. Owen Wilson’s okay sometimes. But then again, I’m not much for ‘adult’ comedy like the two episodes in the OP. I like dry or dark humour the best.