Bride Wars (2009) – on rental. I’ll just save us time and cut right to the end: this comedic film is utterly stupid and just not funny.
Which is more the pity, because the leads are two of Hollywood’s favorite darlings: Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. Both have been in far better comedic roles than Bride Wars.
Moreover, the premise had the potential of holding a far funnier and smarter than the actual film. The two play two friends who’re all but sisters in name, and have always dreamt of having their weddings in June at The Plaza. Unfortunately, through (ridiculously) contrived plot developments, the two of them end up being booked on the same day at the same wedding venue. Neither are willing to give in, so the two best friends turn into mortal enemies.
Thing is, I like watching cat fights (Mrrreeeooowww!!!) on film. But there’s no subtlety here. The two go at each other in the most ridiculous manner possible: like substituting hair color at the hair dresser so one of them ends up with blue hair. Or changing tan color so the other ends up with orange tan.
In this sort of movie, it helps if at least one of the two characters are likable, if not both. You need to root for one of them. But the dialog is so horribly written and so much over-acting going on that you’d be detesting the both and wishing they get tossed off the top floor of The Plaza Hotel, head down first, and spare us their angst.
And it’s more the pity because I’d just watched Anne Hathaway in the far superior Rachel Getting Married (may blog about that later too), and she’s capable of far better than this.
How about the supporting characters? The two bridegrooms are faceless with as much charisma and personality as a potato. Also, Candice Bergen whom I enjoyed watching so much in Murphy Brown from the late 80s and in similar supporting roles (especially Sweet Home Alabama) plays the wedding coordinator for both ladies. In Bride Wars, Bergen looks like a corpse, walks like a corpse, and talks like a corpse. Peter O’Toole displayed more life in his supporting role in The Tudors… and he’s 77 compared to Candice Bergen’s 63 years old.
Frankly, I enjoyed Superhero Movie, Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie more than this dreck. And those movies were made on a budget. Bride Wars was made for USD30 million. Expensive it may be, but sh*t it still is.
– ZERO of five stars.
ya la, the funny parts were all in the trailer. just watch the trailer. think i watched it w grace and felt it was ok.