Bachelorette

To be honest, I watched this film as my testosterones were firing on full once they heard the cast included Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher, not only are these two beautiful women but powerful and talented actresses. Then the cast just got stronger with Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, and Adam Scott all of which I've seen in better movies.

Bachelorette goes to show that you can still have a bad film with a great cast. Unfortunately, it;s the story and the implausible characters, which I found annoying and quite unbelievable. I am also tired of film-makers and writers trying to show drug addiction in a brighter light than it really is. I know addicts and none are like Isla Fisher's and Lizzy Caplan's characters. I find this to also be degrading to family and friends who know people suffering drug addiction. These people would not keep watching this film. There was no reason for this to even be in the movie, it just seemed like a "Quick Fix" to add some immature comedic moments. The writers and director should've taken a more responsible approach. With a little bit of work and creative writing, they would've had a stronger story and film.

So it sounds like I'm coming down on the movie and that I didn't like it, well if it hadn't been for Kirsten Dunst and Rebel Wilson I would've turned this off quite early. Because of them, I stayed to the end, and even though I suffered feeling embarrassed for the actors at the start of the movie, I wasn't too upset at the end of the film, where everything works out okay in the end.

This film suffers from weak writing and mediocre direction and could've been so much better. There are some good giggle moments, but nothing in the laugh-out-loud. If Immature humour is your thing then you may like this.

***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.

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.

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.

When I saw the cast of this movie, I couldn't believe I had never heard of it before, but now that I've seen it, I know why no one talks about it. I can watch almost any movie and have a good time. But this movie was a hard watch, not only because it wasn't funny but because all the characters are unlikeable jerks. And when the credits started to roll, I asked myself, was that it? Where is the character development? Don't get me wrong. I think the cast are all great actors in other films, Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Isla Fisher (Hot Rod), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect), & Adam Scott (Parks and Rec.) But in this movie, the main three characters are all super mean to Rebel Wilson's character, and they are all shallow, self-centered losers who have no character arc. Also, it's really weird to hear Rebel Wilson try and speak with an American accent. But it isn't as bad as how they fat-shame her the entire movie. I mean poor Rebel :( It wasn't the worst movie in the world. Isla Fisher and Rebel had a few funny moments and did the best with what they had to work with. I wanted to like this movie but there just isn't enough substance for me to get over the fact that the characters are awful people.