ANY new comedy these days seems to revolve around Ben Stiller and his mates.

If we don't have Stiller himself, in Meet the Parents, or starring alongside Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball or Owen Wilson in Starsky and Hutch and Zoolander, we're just left with the friends, because Ben couldn't make it.

And that's the dominant feeling in the very disappointing Wedding Crashers, which always feels like it has missed the boat and needs someone like Stiller to drag it back from the brink as the jokes fall flat.

Wilson stars as John Beckwith, who, along with his work colleague and best pal Jeremy Klein (Vaughn), looks forward to the season when they can crash weddings with the aim of feeding their faces for free and seducing attractive guests.

But when they crash the nuptials of the daughter of massively rich Treasury secretary William Cleary (Christopher Walken), John falls for Claire (Rachel McAdams), one of his other daughters, and the duo's long-established routine is in trouble.

And so, for the majority of the movie, we focus not on wedding crashing but on the unfunny adventures of the duo when they end up invited to spend a few days with the entire crazy Cleary family, plus Claire's psychotic boyfriend, at their lakeside home.

With a cast including Walken and Jane Seymour as his alcoholic, over-sexed wife, this should have been a jolly romp, lining up the usual predictable set pieces and going through the motions. But a nastily crass sense of humour - bare breasts, random swearing, and Seymour's embarrassing literal exposure - prevents much engagement with the activities for anyone looking for something aimed anywhere above the bottom line.

Dodgeball was rude but - crucial difference - it was hysterical, not offensive.