A Few Best Men
Vulgar, trite comedy filled with drug use and sex.
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A Few Best Men
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that A Few Best Men is an incredibly vulgar and obnoxious Australian comedy about a wedding that goes horribly awry. Teens may be interested since it features Rebel Wilson, but it's definitely not appropriate for kids. Characters use cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol to excess and are often drunk or high. A character threatens to kill himself with a gun and then accidentally shoots his friend in the arm. When a beloved ram eats drugs sealed in baggies, characters give the ram laxatives to force it to defecate the drugs -- and when they're caught doing this, it looks like they're trying to have sex with the ram. We see naked male buttocks. The profanity is frequent and unrelenting; besides "f--k," pretty much every other type of profanity is used. If there was more of a real comedic payoff for all this over-the-top crassness, maybe it would be worthwhile for adults, but its vulgarity is only matched by its triteness.
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What's the Story?
While on vacation on the island of Tuvalu, Londoner David (Xavier Samuel) met Australian Mia (Laura Brent), immediately fell in love, and decided to get married. Now, David is back in London to tell his best friends the news. They all go to Australia to meet Mia's family -- her politician father, cocaine-addled mother (Olivia Newton-John), and younger sister who pretends to be a lesbian, as well as her father's beloved ram. The night before the wedding, the guys take lots of drugs and alcohol and wake up blacked out with the ram dressed in makeup and lingerie. And that's only the beginning. The wedding itself quickly degenerates into massive intoxication, comedic pratfalls, and a case of mistaken bestiality. Mia begins to question why she chose to get married to David, David begins to question why he has such screwed-up friends, and Mia's father threatens to cancel their marriage altogether. It's up to David and Mia to find a way for their love to go beyond the immediate disaster and remember why they fell for each other in the first place.
Is It Any Good?
A FEW BEST MEN is a substandard combination of The Hangover and Meet the Parents. In pretty much every scene, this movie tries really, really hard to mine laughs out of being crass. And they go to some pretty staggering lengths to make this happen. There's Olivia Newton-John pretending to be out of her mind on cocaine, for instance, and there's one of the lead characters sticking his hand up the backside of a ram to retrieve the drugs the ram ate. But for all these truly insane strivings, none of it is all that funny. Rather, it comes off as trite and predictable. And without much that's relatively normal to counterbalance the craziness, the humor falls flat and quickly grows tiresome.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about deliberately crass and vulgar comedies. Why do you think some people find this humor funny?
How is this film similar to other "buddy movies"? How is it different?
How is the movie similar to other comedies in which weddings or other formal occasions go awry? Why is that such a popular theme?
Movie Details
- In theaters: June 9, 2011
- On DVD or streaming: May 5, 2015
- Cast: Olivia Newton-John, Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Rebel Wilson
- Director: Stephan Elliott
- Studio: Universal Studios
- Genre: Comedy
- Topics: Adventures, Friendship, Horses and Farm Animals
- Run time: 97 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: April 1, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
-
24 Hour Party People
Excellent movie about punk's origins; older teens only.
-
The Hangover
Funny, yes, but chock-full of alcohol-fueled adult content.
-
Meet the Parents
Crass comedy has lots of sex, profanity, drugs.
For kids who love to laugh
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