Intensity

Okay, this lazy, on vacation link, is of Will Ferrell's cameo in "Wedding Crashers." I wouldn't recommend "Wedding Crashers" to anyone looking for a deep, sensitive film. But we were looking for a comedy one night, and the pickin's were slim. I'd read that "Wedding Crashers" was pretty clever as contemporary comedies go, with a lot of broad humour, so we rented it.

It did have some pretty good writing, and it did have its moments, like the one in the clip. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson play two slowly-aging bachelors who crash weddings, enjoy the free food and booze, and prey upon young women whose emotions are all in a tizzy because of the wedding environment that they're in. Vaughn and Wilson base their actions on Vaughn's mentor, a guy named "Chaz" who was the master of manipulation.

After life takes some unexpected turns, Wilson's character becomes demoralized and feels the need to seek out the mysterious Chaz and get some pointers. He's given up on love, and is thinking that maybe he should commit himself wholeheartedly to the manipulation and hedonism of the "crasher" lifestyle.

Chaz turns out to be a loser who never grew up. He's in his forties living with his mother (who yells at him to pick up his skateboard and who once tried to poison him). He's older now, and has found that he has to crash funerals in order to find young women who are emotionally distraught enough for him to manipulate into his bed.

In short, he's a truly repulsive character. But Ferrell plays him with such a maniacal intensity, he really appears to be enjoying his life and is completely oblivous to what a pathetic mess he's made of it. In his view, he's "living the dream!"

Ferrell doesn't make the lifestyle seem worthwhile, he does though convey the impression that he really thinks it is.