Bride Wars - La mia migliore nemica

Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) are two life-long best friends who've dreamed of a June wedding at the Plaza since they were kids. Well, it looks like their dream is finally coming true as their boyfriends have popped the question and now all that's left to do is book the venue. But, unfortunately, due to a mistake the venue made, they've booked their weddings on the same day and the next opening isn't until June 15th... 3 years from now. When they both refuse to move their wedding, it turns to "war".

But, that's just it, the only "war" was in the trailer (the bronze tan, the blue hair, etc.) and the movie overall was rather average. I went in with an open mind and low expectations and still came out disappointed. The first hour is OK, but the last half takes a completely different turn. The jokes stop and it becomes more serious; focusing on the two girls' relationship more than anything else.

The movie appeals mostly to teen girls, so if you're anyone else, this isn't really worth the admission price. And if you still want to see it, it's a rental at best. The trailer showed mostly everything anyway and it's pretty easy to guess how it ends.

This is not a bad film, but it falls far short of its potential, given its two talented stars (Anne Hathaway as Emma, and Kate Hudson as Liv) who portray best friends who grow up sharing a dream of the perfect wedding.

When it comes time for their big days, a wedding planner makes a scheduling mistake, and they find themselves adversaries. Though they still love each other, their desire to realize their dreams overpowers their affection. What follows is a battle of "tit for tat".

The story is rather formulaic. And there are no surprises. And opportunities were missed that might have resulted in more entertainment. For example, in one scene, Anne Hathaway dances, but Kate Hudson just sits and watches her, despite the fact that Hudson can dance and it would have made more sense if the Liv character had done just that.

Also, since Hudson and Hathaway are both accomplished singers, one can imagine a scene that would involve singing, say a karaoke competition.

The movie tells a story of two childhood friends who had a dream of a perfect wedding ceremony in a Plaza Hotel. When the girls are already young and beautiful women and the day comes that they are both engaged, they start to plan their perfect wedding in Plaza. Thereby the are confronted with different problems and even try to ruin each others wedding.

"Bride Wars" doesn't really stand for movies I usually watch. Although I wanted to watch it, mainly because of Anne Hathaway. I was told she is a good actress and is playing quite good in that movie. Well I can partly agree with that. Her performance in "Bride Wars" was surely satisfactory, however I believe her role was not really challenging. For the rest, I have to confess that the story of the movie is quite poor. It is obvious that the idea of the movie is to show us how two childhood friends deal with their friendship when their most desired dream seems to come true. However this appears unrealistic in the movie. Two best friends who know each other for over twenty years wouldn't try to spoil each others lives. "Bride Wars" appears also not that funny as it probably should be. The jokes are even a bit dumb and absolutely not funny.

Summing up I think that "Bride Wars" is a motion picture made more for girls who also have bright thoughts about their wedding.

Anne Hathaway rules the screens this month in Singapore, with three movies hitting the screens - Rachel Getting Married, Passengers, and now teaming up with Kate Hudson for my second wedding theme movie of the day, Bride Wars. Alas this film by director Gary Winick had the trailer to thank for in letting every cat out of the bag that there's little surprise left when the girls have a go at each other.

Liv (Hudson) and Emma (Hathaway) are best friends since young, where they were subconsciously programmed that they must be each other's maid of honour, as well as to have their weddings at New York's swanky The Plaza in June. Fast forward to today, and they are on the cusp of their engagements, which of course meant that they do get to finally turn their long held dreams into reality. From being girly about attending each other's events to engaging one of the finest wedding planners ever, Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen), little do they know a small administrative screw up will threaten their very friendship.

One wonders if girls can indeed be so petty over such little details. You see, the entire plot hinges on this very fine condition that the two girls hold onto, and that is to be each other's maid of honour. Which doesn't make sense because they can each have their wedding on the same day and at the same venue (different ballrooms of course), but because of their insistence to be present at their best friend's wedding, they fall out, insult each other, and declare war.

So only if you buy that wee bit of irrationality (OK, so some claim that the opposite sex can get unreasonable from time to time...) do you buy into the entire bickering, where they go one up against the other, sabotaging plans to be at their best come their wedding day. It also helps that the demeanour of the girls are on opposite sides of the spectrum, with Liv being the alpha-female go-getter who doesn't take no for an answer, and Emma the good natured sweetheart. Of course the series of back-biting do change their characters both for the worse and for the better. Best friends can become your worst enemies since they know every dirty little secret you had confided in them before, and can exploit your very weakness to gain an advantage, so one can find it easy to identify with the predicament of both sides.

Those who suffer will nonetheless be the common friends, who have to sit on the fence and not take sides. The trailer has spelt out the storyline and laid out the best jokes on the table, so unless you're really hard up for jokes that you know the punchline to, this may be just an average chick flick. Having it rated PG (instead of the original NC-16) also meant that some of the more coarse dialogue in Marion St. Claire's meeting with the girls, get chopped off quite abruptly.

I believe this is what truly defines a 'girly' movie... It obviously about brides and whatever stuff they love and need, and from what I can figure most of the women (including the 4 women that dragged me there) in the theater enjoyed it.

I do agree it is an original idea and does give esp the males out there the sheer intensity of how important this occasion is for women, and also to a certain extent why women may make good friends but the worst of enemies.

Overall I give it a 6 on 10 due to a lot of predictability and clichés but I did like the chemistry of the 2 leads stars, the others characters seemed rather bland in fact entirely devoid of personality.

Perhaps the only scene for men to enjoy is the bachelorette party - you 'll see - ;) Hathaway looks smokin' hot.