COMEDY
There is really only a handful of plots out there—but a truly great movie manages to make what seems old and trite new all over again. The Groomsmen doesn't do that. Instead, this tale of five longtime, thirty-something buddies, who spend a long pre-wedding weekend picking over old wounds and sharing confidences, feels woefully been there, done that. It stars Burns (who also wrote and directed) as a newspaperman about to "I do" with his pregnant girlfriend (Murphy). His older brother, cousin and two best boyhood friends gather in a beach town on Long Island, N.Y. They rehash old times, argue and offer revelations (one is gay, another sterile). There's some solid acting here by a generally talented cast, as well as funny moments. But Groomsmen feels like a movie you've seen too many times before, both in the multiplex and on TV, right down to clichéd dialogue such as Murphy's telling a bickersome Burns, "I just want my friend back." (R)
