Bride Wars - La mia migliore nemica

Martin Scorsese once famously said he does one movie for the studio and one for himself, and so do many other directors or actors (George Clooney admits he did Ocean's Thirteen because that way he could do Michael Clayton next). Although Anne Hathaway hasn't explicitly said she does that, one can assume it's the only rational explanation for a piece of anti-cinematic trash like Bride Wars. Shooting The Devil Wears Prada after Brokeback Mountain is one thing, tainting your Oscar-nominated legacy with this bunch of nonsense is another.

And yet it sounded like it could be a lot of fun, at least judging by the premise, which reverses the classic wedding stereotype: women are in it for the romance, guys are game because it's fun (that's what they make it look like in American comedies, anyway). This time around, the dudes are in it for the love, and the girls want to get married just to make a childhood dream come true. Apparently, if you're a woman and live in Manhattan, the ultimate dream of your life is to get married at the Plaza in June, so when best friends Liv (Kate Hudson with a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears haircut) and Emma (Hathaway) get asked the fundamental question by their beaus, they immediately try to book the right place and date. A mix-up occurs, and so they're both stuck with the same date, June 6th. Neither wants to postpone what's supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, therefore a full-on war is declared on both parts.

At this point, the real silliness kicks in: diet sabotage, tans gone awry and the occasional witty remark, like "Your wedding's gonna be huge, just like your ass at prom". What started as a potentially entertaining critique of materialism and shallowness is revealed to be a poorly executed farce, with a succession of lame jokes instead of a plot (then again, one of the screenwriters is best known for performing on Saturday Night Live, where the skits have no connection whatsoever, so that may be an explanation) and two atrocious caricatures instead of leading ladies.

In fairness, no one ever expected any true brilliance from Hudson, given the last really good movie she appeared in was Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous in 2000, but surely someone could have told Hathaway you just don't choose something this bland after working with Jonathan Demme (or Ang Lee, for that matter). Maybe she wanted to return to her comedic roots, but sadly there's nothing even remotely funny in Bride Wars, save for a few brief scenes featuring the reliable Candice Bergen. Everything else is just like Liv and Emma: obsessed with getting everything right, but ultimately too self-centered to get any sympathy from others.

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.

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.

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.

The romantic comedy is a type of film that relies on two obvious traits; the ability to make its audience laugh, and the ability to make that very same audience tear-up or at least feel some degree of warmth towards the central characters' love story. Bride Wars, which ostensibly at least, takes the form of your typical rom-com is an example of such that constantly tries to do the former -while constantly failing-, and only hints at the latter only in the background in order to advance plot. The result from this is a middling and sluggishly mundane feature that neither offers memorable characters or even a few cheap laughs. To be fair, there has to be something said for the fact that I am not exactly within the movie's target demographic. Yet judging by the reactions of those around me, I got the feeling that what I was experiencing wasn't exactly gender exclusive.

The story here, which revolves around two best gal-pals Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) as they try to cope with their simultaneous weddings, is one that is likely to get a few chuckles from females, but less so with their male counterparts. Yes, this is somewhat expectant of a movie titled Bride Wars, but then again, if half of your audience are neglected to the sidelines then you're needlessly cutting yourself short. This stunted, polarising depiction of "every girl's biggest day" feels fitting to its source material, so women will enjoy this moreso than men, but not by much. You see, aside from the fact that Bride Wars wants nothing more than to cater to cheap gags and sappy melodrama fit to please the Legally Blonde crowd, there also remains blatant problems in just about everything else that fills the movie's first two acts. With little romance to back up the meagre plot, dull, dry characterisation coupled with non-existent chemistry between either the friends and their partners, or even themselves, the vast majority of Bride Wars turns ugly, rather quickly; the movie pushes that this cat fight between Hudson and Hathaway is meant to be fun and airy with plenty of laughs, but it's too transparent and formulated to even move beyond dry caricature.

It doesn't help at all that the majority of the performances from the main cast are border line negligible. Hudson and Hathaway, who are supposed to playing long-time best buddies who suddenly fall out over a petty dispute, are strangely forgettable, if not repelling. In all fairness, both hit the proverbial hammer on the head with their portrayals as stock-pile, cardboard cut-out typecasts befitting of the genre and only the genre, but this isn't exactly saying much. The remainder of the cast, who each have around ten minutes tops of total screen time are just as unremarkable, with Kristen Johnston giving the movie its only real favour and edge. So, what's worse than a romantic comedy with next to no compelling or memorable performances? Not much.

To be fair however, Bride Wars isn't really a romance at all. At least, that's what I hope director Gary Winick was trying to put across (somehow I get the feeling that I'm giving too much benefit of the doubt). If anything, the movie exists more as a mildly poignant example of companionship in the form of friends rather than romance. This tangent, which takes full form in the third act, for the most part surpasses the drudgery that comes beforehand, and establishes a touching, if slightly overly done sentimental climax. By all means, it's far too little, all too late, but I at least found myself moved by the movie's final statement, even if it was by means of extreme contrast. Yet had Winick went with this theme for the majority of his film, rather than save it for after all the silly, perfunctory cat fight scenes that in turn just about destroy all human shades within his characters, Bride Wars could have been a much more flowing, and relevant feature. Instead it exists simply as throwaway popcorn fodder for girls on a night out who have nothing better to do than to revisit the same old characters, wacky situations and sit-com dialogue typical of your average Will & Grace episode.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)