Running time: 88 minutes
Starring: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Candice Bergen, Kristen Johnston, Bryan Greenberg, Chris Pratt, Steve Howey
Rating 3 out of 10
In the wedding battle involving Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway), the real loser is the audience. It's hard to find anything remotely positive to say about this totally lame and mean spirited comedy. Charmless, predictable and un-funny, Bride Wars is populated with a cast of unendearing characters who make mundane company for the film's duration. Even the normally engaging Hathaway isn't able to offset the grating presence of Hudson. Only mildly annoying in Almost Famous, for the past decade Hudson has appeared in a succession of vapid fare that has only served to highlight her flimsy credentials. And, based on her rough appearance here, the years have not been kind. But Hudson is only one of the reasons Bride Wars is, even though January has barely begun, an early contender for the list of 2009's worst films.
It appears that, along with heroic sports stories, weddings provide a perennial topic for movies, which explains why so much of Bride Wars is all too familiar. Liv and Emma are childhood friends who both grew up dreaming of a June wedding at New York's prestigious Plaza Hotel. By the time they reach 26, the controlling, self-centered Liv has become a successful attorney, while the meek and sweet Emma is a teacher.
When both become engaged within days of each other, they make an appointment with the city's most famous wedding planner, the ferocious Marion St Claire (Candice Bergen), and book their Plaza weddings for different days in June. But, following a clerical error, both find their weddings scheduled for the same day. With neither girl prepared to sacrifice her dream, the once inseparable friends become fierce enemies and embark on a series of malicious acts designed to sabotage each other's wedding.
Directed heavy-handedly by Gary Winick, Bride Wars makes its clunky way from one contrived set-up to the next. Little makes any sense and with Emma and Liv being so different in almost every way, it's hard to conceive of them being friends. Unsurprisingly, watching two tightly-wound woman sinking ever lower in their efforts to screw each other is rarely appealing. So now we can now add Bride Wars to an ever growing list that is, along with recent additions Made of Honor and 27 Dresses, further confirmation that sadly Hollywood is no nearer divorcing itself it from bad wedding films.
Kevin Murphy
