Wedding Crashers by Bob Fisher, Steve Faber: OUTLINE

A good example for CHARACTER MAINTAINING A LIE genre. 

WEDDING CRASHERS OUTLINE

1. Meet JOHN. Helping a company screw a slip and fall fraudster.
2. Meet JEREMY. Divorce lawyer. Doesn’t believe in love.
3. John with Jeremy. Discussing the history of their friendship. Plans for wedding crashing.
4. Jewish Wedding. Both guys picking out their potential women.
- series of shots as they make their moves and get alone with their chosen women.
5. Catholic Wedding. Same.
6. Quick cuts. Lots of weddings. They have a well-rehearsed shtick.
7. Catalyst. They learn the secretary of the treasury’s daughter is getting married. “This is the Kentucky Derby of wedding announcements.”
8. Insistence/Resistance. John is losing steam. Jeremy has to convince him to do it.
9. Cleary Wedding: guys get their story straight before they go in. Clarify their plan for entry. Decide to rush in with a big group.
NOTE: they use EVERY opportunity to exploit the premise for comedy and they never forget these guys are experts at their lies.
10. BATHROOM. John ironically sells the scared groom on the beauty and meaning of marriage. Almost reads like a third act speech which is a fun and creative move.
11. WEDDING. They place a bet on whether the bride is a crier. Fun and games explores the promise of the premise in EVERY beat. Comedic premise exploration IS THE STORY and clearly takes priority. Next they bet on what part of bible first reading is from.
12. CLAIRE LODGE laughs during silly vows. Her sister is getting married. She can’t stop laughing. The guys are v interested in this.
13. NAME CARD AREA: Jeremy switches out two people with custom name cards for he and John.
14. GIFT TABLE: John approaches Claire. Guesses what’s in a gift box. Cute banter between them.
15. WEDDING: Guys plan their attacks then set about them. Making kids balloons. Dancing with flower girl. Making eye contact with their target women throughout.
16. LATER John gets hit on by aging matriarch. (This introduces a runner) LATER John makes friends with patriarch. Discuss what to do about Grandson Todd. (This introduces a B story).
17. ON BEACH. Gloria kisses John after he gives a lie about saving someone’s life.
18. LATER Clair tells John she hates liars and lawyers. Uh oh. John reads the toast she’s going to give. Says it’s too honest. She disagrees.
19. LATER the speech bombs. She uses a true love quote from John to win the crowd over.
20. LATER On the beach. Jeremy just had sex with Gloria. Finds out she was a virgin.
21. LATER John with Claire. Learns she has a boyfriend. They shake hands and part ways so she can dance with bf (named SACK).
22. Guys get invited to an after party weekend at the Cleary estate. John agrees to go, even though Jeremy feels trapped by the virgin he just had sex with aka “a stage five clinger.”
NOTE: Great example unintended consequences and therefore/but.
23. ON CLEARY YACHT: Guys argue. Jeremy is not down for this. John convinces Jeremy to give him a shot to seal the deal. Jeremy falls in the ocean.
24. TOUCH FOOTBALL: John flirts with Claire. Jeremy takes a big hit from Sack.
NOTE: Things are getting worse and worse for Jeremy. He is clearly the second lead in this movie. The one with less depth. The one with the comedic b story. The one who has not delivered any speeches on the value of true love. The one who wants to wedding crash forever. This is a strong dichotomy and v clear.
25. BATHROOM Old Matriarch tends to Jeremy. He’s weirded out by her advances. Gloria gets even crazier so he professes his life. This is not a flattering female character.
26. FAMILY DINNER: John convinces Jeremy to give John the VISINE so John can drug SACK and get alone time with Claire, Sack’s GF.
27. LATER: Jeremy tiffs with Sack. Cleary asks about how the guys are part of the family. Sack gets suspicious at the answer. Gloria tries to jerk Jeremy off under the table.
NOTE: Good to have an obvious antagonist. Someone suspicious of the lie. Also good to have stakes. “What happens if the lie is found out?” In Wedding Crashers, the secretary of treasury might put them in jail or something.
28. DURING DINNER: Todd is revealed as gay. Seems to be coming onto Jeremy. Granny is anti semitic. John arranges a walk with Claire.
29. GUEST ROOM: Topless matriarch propositions John.
30. MINUTE LATER: Jeremy and John argue in the hall.
31. JEREMY’S ROOM: Grandma is asleep in there. Asks Jeremy to carry her to her room.
32. OUTSIDE: John meets Claire. She immediately gets pulled back in to tend to Sack.
NOTE: This movie starts as wedding crashing comedy, becomes a fish out of water comedy. These guys surrounded by this wasp family, just trying to survive.
33. THAT NIGHT: Check in on main characters, struggling to sleep.
34. THAT NIGHT: Jeremy wakes up to Gloria tying him up. Kinda seems like she’s going to rape him.
NOTE: John needs alone time with Claire but can’t seem to get it. That’s what’s pulling through this plot.
35. IMPORTANT BEATS: John and Claire both pause outside each others rooms, pause and walk away.
36. JEREMY’S ROOM: Todd comes in there naked and propositions him.
37. BREAKFAST: John and Jeremy argue. Jeremy wants to leave. John confesses “This is about love.” John convinces Jeremy to stay. Jeremy can’t leave because if he leaves that’ll create a shit storm with gloria that will ruin the vibe.
38. SACK’S ROOM: Calls someone. Requests background on John and Jeremy Ryan.
39. ON THE DOCK: family sail takes off.
40. ON BOAT: Sack still acts suspicious. But he gets sea sick.
41. LATER: John gets alone time with Claire. They bond as they discuss how they hate how nature is big and eternal and they are not. Sack pukes in a bucket downstairs. Jeremy is put in charge of sailboat. He can’t actually sail. Good comedy from him screwing that up.
42. BACK ON SHORE: John is about to get alone time with Claire BUT Cleary invites the guys on a quail hunt.
NOTE: Fun and games continue in this section, just with the addition of the bad guys closing in. It’s not like they stop exploring the premise just because it’s getting tense.
43. LATER: Sack tries to shoot buckshot into John. Hits Jeremy instead.
44. BACK AT HOUSE: Gloria pulls buck shot from Jeremy’s ass. Jeremy is not happy. John heads out for bike ride with Claire.
45. HOUSE: Sack learns Claire and John went out for a ride to the tide pools. He is not happy about it.
46. TIDE POOLS: John and Claire kiss. Sack witnesses it. Claire pulls away and says she can’t do this. No one knows Sack saw kiss but no the pull away.
47. LATER: Sack announces to whole family that he and Claire are engaged. Gloria says she and Jeremy are engaged. John decides to tell truth to Claire. Jeremy confesses to a priest.
48. BEACH: John is about to tell the truth. Then Jeremy runs down beach chased by clears. The priest ratted him out and now everyone wants to get them.
49. FERRY: guys go home.
50. BOSTON: lonely John montage. Can’t get to Claire. Then he hears about the Claire/sack engagement party and convinces Jeremy to go.
51. PARTY: the guys dressed as waiters.
52. GUYS AS WAITERS for comedy. Dealing with the boss, the diners etc.
53. Jeremy yells at customer. Gets kicked out. Secret service find him. Sack finds him. Sack beats the guys up.
54. LATER: The guys argue. John hates the bullshit. Jeremy says John IS the bullshit. John says he’s sorry that Jeremy never believed in love. Says Jeremy never got over prom date cheating on him. This is a break up scene.
NOTE: old resentments are the building blocks of this breakup scene.
55. LATER: Jeremy bursts into John’s place. Apologizes. Convinces John to crash one last wedding before John leaves town to start again.
56. CLAIRE’S WEDDING: John gives speech. Claire leaves with him. Jeremy tackles Sack.
57. OUTSIDE WEDDING: John and Claire kiss and run away together.
58. ONE YEAR LATER: Jeremy marries Gloria. We learn John is getting married the next month. Movie ends as the guys spot two new crashers in the pews a few rows back.