Best Men

I had the movie Best Men on my DVR for quite some time, not realizing that it is in fact available on DVD courtesy of MGM's MOD scheme. So now I finally feel comfortable doing a full-length post on it.

The movie starts off with four men going through their morning routine and getting dressed in tuxedos. They get in a car and go to... a prison? Well, there's a good reason for that, which is that they're about to pick up their friend Jesse (Luke Wilson) who is about to be released from that prison. And they're dressed in tuxes because now that Jesse is out of prison he can get married to his fiancée Hope (Drew Barrymore). The other guys are obviously the groomsmen. On the way to the church, however, one of the groomsmen, Billy (Sean Patrick Flannery), says he needs to get a little cash, so they make a stop at the bank along the way.

What Billy didn't tell them is that he was planning to hold up the bank. Billy, as it turns out, is a notorious serial bank robber nicknamed "Hamlet" because of his tendency to quote the works of Shakespeare. Anyhow, Billy goes in the bank with none of his friends knowing his real plans. Robbing the bank takes more time than just making a simple withdrawal (for which he could have used the ATM anyway), so eventually the friends start to wonder what's taking Billy so long. Especially Jesse, since he's nervous about getting to the wedding on time.

So one by one, the friends go into the bank, and find out that it's being held up -- by their other best friend! Buzz (Dean Cain) is ex-military; Teddy (Andy Dick) is a bit of a nerd; and Sol (Mitchell Whitfield) is Jesse's former defense attorney, who clearly doesn't want to take part in a bank robbery. Jesse, given a choice, would prefer to go stratight. The other friends however, find themselves getting caught up in the robbery.

Things get even more complicated when the sheriff and a hostage negotiator get to the bank. The feds are portrayed as buffoonish, while the sheriff (Fred Ward) is actually Billy's father! Oh, and there's also the poor bride. She winds up at the bank, and is willing to support her fiancé in whatever choice he ultimately makes. And there are a lot of people in the bank who have support for Billy and his accomplices, notably "The Vet" (Brad Dourif) who, like Buzz, is also ex-military.

Best Men is mostly a comedy, although there is enough drama in it that people expecting a straight-up comedy might be in for a bit of a surprise. The characters are, after all, committing a serious crime and you'd expect them to get caught and punished for it even though we're clearly meant to have sympathy for them. And, despite the title, it is most definitely not a romantic comedy in the sense that most people would think of it. Not that it's a bad movie by any means. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can recommend it to anybody looking for something a bit offbeat.