Bachelorette

The Bachelorette (2012)

Wow. Basically horrible, sexist, weightist (if that's a word), and badly written. And badly edited. And routinely filmed and directed. It even has some good talent (Kirsten Dunst is the big name) and a decent basic if familiar idea--a girl gets engaged and her friends all go to the wedding where things go wrong and lots of old skeletons come out of the closet.

The humor is purposely trashy party humor. This is where a certain audience might have fun with it. It didn't work at all, most of the time. (There are partial exceptions, like the early scene on the plane where the woman tells a stranger man next to her the nuances of giving a blow job.)

So, what is the point of all this? It's mostly just young people incredibly mindlessly liberated, with lots of fun sex and drugs, and lots of old baggage and new lovers popping up and crossing paths. The scenes are lively, the music lively, the jokes, well, lively (which is not always funny, though there are some laughs).

The director and writer is Leslye Headland, and yes, she has to take almost all the blame, though the producers must have seen something, maybe a pretty face, that blinded them to the reality. But then, this is her first film on both scores (she was a stunt driver in one other movie prior), so we have even more questions marks--why her, why her?

Mostly this is horrible. And stupid. And horrible! There, I got it out. Squandered a good hour plus.

Three messed up high school friends Regan (Kirsten Dunst), Gena (Lizzy Caplan), and Katie (Isla Fisher) get together to be bridesmaid to their fat friend Becky (Rebel Wilson)'s wedding. However, a crazy night before the wedding leaves them scrambling to fix the wedding dress.

This movie starts off badly. The three girls are way too mean, and we don't get any sense why they're friends with Becky. Then the funniest actress in the bunch is sidelined to be the sweet character. It's a waste of Rebel Wilson. All the jokes just fall flat. As the movie progress, we get a sense of the girls' history and friendship. It improves the likability of the girls, and allows the jokes to hit better.

This is Leslye Headland's directorial debut based on her play. Maybe if she had put in scenes in the beginning showing the four girls' friendship. Maybe a flashback to their high school days would help. The movie definitely needs to show that they were real friends in the old days. Or else it's just three mean girls making fun of the fat girl from high school.

***It's too bad that this movie came out in the same year as "Bridesmaids." That coincidence contributes to shallow thinkers erroneously setting these two films against each other. Both share a basic scenario: a bridal party in the days before a wedding. Aside from that, they are completely different movies.

Pick two "Civil War" films. "Gone with the Wind" and "Gettysburg." There's room in the world for both.

"Bridesmaids" was a hilarious film.***

So now... THIS movie, called "Bachelorette."

This is a dark, edgy, uncomfortable comedy. The characters are realistically flawed. They do ugly things and treat each other badly. They also obviously care for each other and make some astute observations about life. There are too many weirdly, subversively funny moments to list.

If you watch it expecting a light, breezy "chick flick" you will be disappointed. If you watch it expecting a gritty, grimly hilarious portrait of three very human women trying to overcome their own flaws and self-inflicted disasters, you'll have a damn good time.

Notes: 1) Kirsten Dunst is awesome playing a tightly-wound, abrasive control freak. I love the hard edge she has here. And the way her face betrays the fact she's always on the verge of coming apart at the seams.

2) Lizzy Caplan. FINALLY in a movie and role worthy of her comedic talents.

3) Rebel Wilson. Naturally hilarious. Too bad her role necessitates under-utilizing her gifts.

4) James Marsden. I've only ever seen him in good-guy roles (at which he is excellent). It's a confirmation of his skill that he's equally great at playing a sleazeball manipulator.

5) June Diane Raphael. The uniquely nutty, endlessly comical Raphael's cameo in the bathroom with Lizzy Caplan is easily the funniest scene in the movie.

Becky (Rebel Wilson) summons her high-school slut friends Regan (Kirsten Dunst), Gena (Lizzy Caplan) and Katie (Isla Fisher) to be bridesmaids of her wedding with the handsome Dale (Hayes MacArthur). The trio spends one crazy night of drugs, booze, sex and confusions in New Yorkr trying to fix the wedding dress of Becky that they have torn .

"Bachelorette" is an unfunny and moronic comedy with unpleasant characters, gross jokes and stupid situations. The three friends are drugged, alcoholic, envious and promiscuous women. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Quatro Amigas e um Casamento" ("Four Friends and One Wedding")

This movie is funny once you get it. There is a big dip in quality the middle of the film (cliches and ridiculous scenarios) and it gets below average, but the writing upkicks again and it end well.

The overall trouble with this film is the characters and friendships are not established very well. As a result, it takes a while for the viewer to believe the premise of the movie (ie: why are three popular girls going to the unpopular girl's wedding as her bridesmaids?). The aspect that I struggled to understand the most, is that the director/writers do not make clear WHY the women remain friends. Yes, we know they went to High School together, obviously, but WHY have they remained in contact? Considering that two of the women now live in New York, and two now live in LA, and the three main characters barely disguise their contempt for Rebel Wilson/ the Bride... so why are they in the Bridal Party again?

This movie clearly wasn't marketed well - it is not Bridesmaids, and it is not a rom- com. The poster is awful. What is that composition, honestly?! In the end, if you go into this movie knowing it is a DARK COMEDY WITH UNLIKEABLE CHARACTERS, you'll probably enjoy it. Once I figured out the characters are assholes and are MEANT to be assholes, then it was pretty funny in parts. Not all women are "nice" and "sweet" and "kind". And they don't have to be.