Starring: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Bryan Greenberg, Chris Pratt, Steve Howey, Candice Bergen, Kristen Johnston

Directed by: Gary Winick

20th Century Fox

The Official Site of Bride Wars

Discuss Bride Wars on the boards!

Bride Wars is not the kind of movie that should be good. Two friends scheming to sabotage each other’s wedding. Pranks to make people feel terrible about each other. Kate Hudson. What about that sounds good? My lack of enthusiasm could have less to do with any of that and more to do with me being a 30 year-old, jaded, New York City male and decidedly NOT the target audience of this film or any other film involving puffy dresses, floral arrangements and Candice Bergen in a pant suit. While there’s no surprise that I’d have trouble getting excited about the battle of the brides I was shocked when my wife was hesitant to go with me. This is a woman who proudly lists her two favorite movies on her Facebook page as Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Grease 2 (easily the girliest of the Grease series.) There are several reasons she should want to see this movie (I’ve sat through enough Bridezillas marathons to verify that) but she wanted nothing to do with it. In the end my better half took pity on my fear of being the-creepy-guy-sitting-by-himself and tagged along to watch the story of two best friends who have always dreamt of getting married in June at the Plaza.

Kate Hudson (who also produced the film) and Anne Hathaway (fresh of lots of Oscar buzz for her performance in Rachel Getting Married) play the two friends Liv and Emma. When their proposals come in right around the same time they decide to book their events together. One clerical error later and the lifelong friends end up with their big days on the same day. Sounds awful right?

Well, when neither is willing to bend they make it their goal to ruin the other’s perfect day. Dastardly plans involving blue hair dye and orange spray tans (apparently if you want to really screw with a bride’s head all you have to do is change her color scheme) are unleashed as the two decide that one day with the perfect dress, the perfect flowers and the perfect man is more important than a loyal friend.

None of that sounds like a fun night at the movies and somehow... it is. Hudson and Hathaway, despite rumors of on set fighting, are terrific together in the parts that demand them to go from supportive shoulder to cry on to formalwear cat fights. Hudson is stunning and while I’d prefer to see her picking up roles more in tune with her Oscar nominated performance as Penny Lane from Almost Famous, she’s making the most of her time in the sugar sweet, Matthew McConaughey, circle of romantic comedy hell. Likewise, there’s no reason Hathaway should be taking on something this generic, (Shouldn’t she be America’s sweetheart by now?) but the girls really own the screen and make you love them despite how wretched they’re behaving throughout. Regardless of the kind of movies a dim critic like me thinks they should be taking on, they’ve got the kind of careers and success that are good enough to promptly shut me up. If Bride Wars does anything it proves that the right casting can make the worst material sing.

As we left the theater my wife and I admitted to each other that we both thought the movie was better than what we’d expected (even with a little twist ending that felt forced enough to stand out but not so desperate that it ruined the film). Then she spent the next 15 minutes talking about how Liv’s wedding was tacky and how she loved the seating at Emma’s ceremony. Or at least I think that’s what she was talking about. I spent the better part of that Sunday afternoon trying to figure out how a movie with that much against it could actually work.

Rating: 6 out of 10 - Bride Wars should have been terrible but a great cast and a few light jokes really keep this bland idea afloat. There are certainly worse ways to start the year.

Bride Wars did pretty well at the box office though it couldn’t fight off the wide release of Gran Torino. Still, a hit is a hit. I’d like o think though that had they tried to appeal to a wider audience they could have done even better. In today’s incentive image I suggest that a little firepower or a rusty old chainsaw would have made this War sightly more interesting.

Uh… no.

I spent about a week trying to figure out a good joke for Bride Wars though I couldn’t tell you why I felt compelled to expend that kind of energy. For some reason it just wasn’t coming to me. In case like this I’ll often go to Yeo for some answers. Sometimes I’ll be straightforward and say something like, “I’m drawing a blank on this.� Other times I’ll be sneaky about it and just try to instigate a conversation that might lead to a joke. After a couple days of pressuring her to see the movie with me she said the line about how she’d be more excited if Kate Hudson weren’t in it. From there it took about 30 seconds for things to evolve in my head to the Grimace getting stabbed wearing a wedding dress.

The Grimace was also stabbed in my comic for Saw V. Back then I had no intentions of bringing the idea back but it seemed like a good fit of “unexpected character� and “random act of violence�, which the joke for Bride Wars needed.

I’d also like to make it clear that Yeo and I are actually quite fond of Kate Hudson though it’s been our experience that her movies are better at home then on the big screen. In other words, we enjoy her significantly more when it doesn’t cost us 12 bucks each to see her.

JLCM has been reviewed in the Hat Lobster Webcomics Showcase. When Brian, the man behind the curtain, first contacted me about the review I wasn’t sure what to think. A video review conducted by a lobster and a sea urchin chatting about web comics…? It didn’t take long for them to win me over though. The review is remarkably thorough and done from the perspective of a guy (or a crustacean) that’s obviously done his (or its) homework, yet it’s still done with a lot of style and laughs. I think they’ve got an instant classic character in Urchin and I could watch that crazy Lobster ride a mustache all day long. See for yourselves:

That’s it for now but I’ll be back with more soon. Thanks for reading.