The Groomsmen (2006)

GUYS 'GUISE Burns stays true to the male POV in his latest tale of buddy woes

Has any filmmaker who came up through the indie movement suffered as enduring a backlash as Edward Burns? The spitballs arrived with his first movie, The Brothers McMullen, which a lot of women despised because they thought Burns showed a tin ear for feminine concerns. Maybe so, but he got the masculine ones right (no small achievement), and his follow-up feature, She's the One, was an unacknowledged sophomore triumph: Cameron Diaz in that movie was more fresh and alive than the heroines of most chick-flick hits. Now here's Burns re-embracing his outer-New York guys-will-be-guys roots with The Groomsmen, and damned if his homespun, ingratiating talent — for talk that ripples and wounds, for the lies men tell themselves — isn't on.

Burns plays Paulie, who spends the week before he marries his pregnant fiancée (Brittany Murphy) hanging out with his groomsmen: a cousin, a big brother, and two old comrades. They're all in their mid-30s, taking stock of their compromises, and Burns uses this rote setup to create buddies with honest voices. Every actor registers: Jay Mohr, all husky cluelessness as a bridge-and-tunnel lout; Matthew Lillard as a gentle husband and father who understands the modesty of happiness; John Leguizamo, mournful and sharp as the one who disappeared because, it turns out, he's gay; and Donal Logue, who gives a fearless performance as a good man sunk into anger and booze. In a film of minor ambition, they're all worthy company.