The Wedding Ringer, film review: Crude and infantile comedy is an absolute stinker

(15) Jeremy Garelick, 101 mins Starring: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Olivia Thirlby, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting

Josh Gad and Kevin Hart in 'The Wedding Ringer'

It is keeping with its subject matter, this goofy, low-brow comedy about a bunch of nincompoops is itself a bungled affair. Tax attorney Doug (Gad) is about to marry but he doesn't have a best man or any pals at all. He therefore turns to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), who offers "best man services". Jimmy pretends to be his best friend, an army priest called Bic Mitchum, and recruits seven lowlifes to be his groomsmen at the wedding.

The humour is crude and infantile – which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't also so resoundingly unfunny. The estimable Cloris Leachman (so brilliant all those years ago in The Last Picture Show) has the most thankless role of all as the bride's grandma, set on fire by Jimmy to cause a distraction when he thinks his cover is about to be blown.

Hart is a very engaging and likeable comedian but this is only one of a number of absolute stinkers in which he has appeared in recent years.