The Groomsmen

Gets good results

By TOM MEEK | August 9, 2006

3.0 Stars

Ten years after wowing audiences at Sundance with The Brothers McMullen, Ed Burns hasn’t changed a lick as a filmmaker. Again we get a collection of lost men too full of pride to see the answer to their ailments right before them — in their women. Burns’s Paulie is a Long Island newspaper scribe with a very pregnant and very rich wife-to-be (Brittany Murphy) who, three days before the wedding, is having second thoughts. Booze-fueled bull sessions, infighting, and chest pounding ensue as Paulie’s cadre steers him to the altar. Burns is his usual nonchalant self, but the quartet of trouble who surround him — the lovable stalker (played with sympathy and gusto by Jay Moher), the family-centric bartender (Matthew Lillard in a surprisingly mature role), the buddy who comes out of the closet (the underrated John Leguizamo), and the disgruntled older brother (Donal Logue) — keep the pat material colorful. The result is better than Burns’s efforts over the past decade, but he’s still chasing McMullen.

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The Groomsmen's officiail Web site: http://www.thegroomsmen.com/

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