The Wedding Ringer

The plot’s old, the title’s borrowed and the jokes are blue – but there’s nothing remotely new in this wearying bromantic comedy.

Slicing and dicing the plots of ‘Hitch’, ‘I Love You, Man’ and ‘The Hangover’, it stars US comic Kevin Hart as Jimmy, a wisecracking entrepreneur who makes a living hiring himself out as best man to friendless dorks like Doug (Josh Gad). It’s not long before the pair begin to bond, but the course of man-love doesn’t run smooth: old ladies are hilariously set on fire, gay men hilariously camp it up and hapless guys get hilariously blown by dogs (seriously).

But while there are few social groupings ‘The Wedding Ringer’ won’t go out of its way to offend, women come under the greatest fire, proving themselves (yet again!) to be nagging harridans, up-for-it whores or, if they’re lucky, reliable motherly types. It’s all very slick and competent, and there is one genuinely funny joke about ‘The Goonies’. But this is seriously outdated.