IonicBreezeMachine

Sam (Rebel Wilson) and Betsy (Anna Camp) are childhood friends who've struggled to stay connected as their lives took different paths. Following a Betsy's bachelorette night in Paris that Sam needed to disappear from in order to tackled a weapons deal as she works as a secret agent unbeknownst to her friends, Betsy says she's had enough of Sam's flaking and reassigns Maid-of-Honor to her future sister-in-law, Virginia (Anna Chlumsky). Despite now being on the outs with Betsy, Sam still attends the wedding to show support despite the friction still being there. However the ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of a teal of mercenaries led by Kurt (Stephen Dorff) who is working with the Best Man, Chris (Justin Hartley) to utilize the rings and occular scans of several guests who are required to access a safe on the property. With the wedding party taken hostage, Sam must now use her agency honed training to save her friends and stop the terrorists.

Bride Hard is the latest release of upstart distribution company Magenta Light Studios, the company from prolific producer Bob Yari seeks to specialize in low-mid budget films for theatrical distribution which have struggled in the wake of streaming proliferation that has seen theatrical films lean towards larger more expensive tentpoles. Written by Shaina Steinberg in her feature writing debut, who's most notable credits are as a writing assistant on the Starz series Spartacus and writing for the short lived NBC procedural Chase, Bride Hard is the kind of high concept package (being Bridesmaids by way of Die Hard) that you would've seen more of about 10 years ago with films that came about in the wake of Bridesmaids (think The Heat or Spy). With a cast that includes 3 alums from the Pitch Perfect franchise, Bride Hard feels very much like a man out of time in terms of what it is, it's just a shame it's not reminiscent of one of the good movies of this type and falls more in line with Barely Lethal and So Undercover.

On paper, there's no reason a movie like this shouldn't work because when you intertwine the high stress scenario of an incoming wedding with the high tension scenario of a action movie plot you can get some good mileage out of something like that (the underrated Belgian film The Wedding Party I felt did this kind of premise really well). Unfortunately with Bride Hard, it feels very much like a first draft as the movie doesn't really create characters so much as it creates vaguely defined archetypes that it places in weatherworn situations without particularly good timing or comedic energy. From the opening montage that clunkily sets up Sam and Betsy's estrangement that segues to a bachelorette party where the core cast need text identifiers because the movie couldn't figure out a way to establish their roles and characters organically, the establishment of both the bridal drama/shenanigans and the stock espionage elements aren't particularly well-integrated and the movie fails at creating the comic friction you need for this premise to work. The friendship between Sam and Betsy is supposed to be a key point for the audience to latch onto but there's so little actual meat to that relationship that when Sam is dumped as Maid-of-Honor in favor of Betsy's spiteful future sister-in-law Virginia, there's a feeling of "so what?" because we aren't really invested in the relationship.

Once the high concept action elements enter the movie at the half-hour mark things don't become too much better as despite Simon West's reputation as an action director, the action feels very cheap and without much in the way of memorable setpieces with maybe only an occasional line read mining a smirk or slight chuckle from a wasteland of comedic potential. The editing often feels very clumsy with a lot of choppy attempts at integrating the action elements with the comedic elements and even during standalone sequences, such as where Virginia is being Catty to Sam, there's an odd disjointedness that makes this film feel like it shouldn't be in a theater and would be more at home on VOD.

Bride Hard isn't the worst movie of this type that I've seen (for my money something like 2010's Killers was way worse), but it's also something of a reminder of how a lot of the good will from Bridesmaids was run into the ground by shameless copycats that assumed all you needed for success was a cast of talented female stars, a high concept hook, and no actual effort. There was probably a decent enough idea here at one point, but it either wasn't fully developed or died the death of a thousand cuts leading to something that's destined to take up the back rows of streaming services.

Pat Riley (Julia Sweeney) is an androgynous directionless 33 year old who has been unable to hold down a job for more than a few days at most. During the course of one of Pat's jobs, Pat starts a relationship with equally androgynous bartender Chris (Dave Foley) who is attracted to Pat in spite of Pat's lack of direction and very shallow goal of "fame and riches" which leads Chris to uncertainty in their relationship. Pat's androgyny attracts the curiosity of next door neighbor Kyle (Charles Rocket) with the initial curiosity festering into obsessive insanity as Kyle becomes infatuated with Pat and determined to know what sex Pat actually is.

It's Pat is a 1994 comedy film adapted from the SNL character created by writer/star Julia Sweeney that appeared in sketches on the show between 1990 and 1994. Due to how ubiquitous the character had become, this led to interest in exploiting the character's popularity for a feature film with Producer Charles B. Wessler (known for his later Farrelly Brothers collabs) and 20th Century Fox optioning the rights from SNL's Lorne Michaels. After inability to get the film's script ready prior to the 1993 season of SNL, Fox lost interest in the film and put it into turnaround with both Disney and New Line Cinema engaging in a brief bidding war for the film before Disney acquired the film and set it up with Touchstone. Despite the film being the initial high priority for the film, Disney clearly had developed a case of buyer's remorse as it received a very limited engagement in a handful of markets making only $80,000 over its entire run before being dumped on video six months later. Whatever critics bothered to see the movie were not impressed and the film typically ranks alongside not just the worst comedies ever made, but some say worst films. Despite It's Pat's reputation, it isn't nearly as bad as you'd think as the stuff directly centered around Pat isn't good, but there is a nugget of a good idea that comes out.

Prior to watching It's Pat, I decided to watch the Pat sketches that were available either through YouTube or Peacock to get a sense of the character. While the character has been the subject of some hindsight re-evaluation (as many comedies do with changes to society and its related standards), the Pat character is a situation where the actual butt of the joke isn't so much Pat themselves but rather the people (usual guest hosts) stumbling over themselves to get Pat to answer without actually being direct. It's not a sketch that I'm particularly fond of for itself, but in the event you got the right counterpoint to Pat (such as George Wendt, Linda Hamilton, or Christopher Walken) it could result in some funny comic friction coming from their reactions to the character. This is where we see a breakdown in the premise of It's Pat because since the movie is largely told from Pat's point of view it ends up leaving the character a lot of the time without a straight man to bounce off against. The movie actually recycles some gags from the SNL sketches like a supporting role for Kathy Najimy as a convenience store worker in a similar setup to the sophomore SNL sketch or Pat responding to the "Sex?" question on a form with "Often" and because the focus is now shifted primarily to Pat it leaves the actual punchline, the characters' reactions to Pat, feeling limp. That's to say nothing of the Pat character themselves because when you get right down to it, Pat's an irredeemable jerk. They're a selfish vain narcissist who is honestly pretty cruel to their partner Chris, and the movie lingers on scenes and sequences where Pat invades peoples' space or is a selfish jerk without much reason as to why we or anyone for that matter would want to spend time with them given how openly repugnant their behavior and mannerisms are.

So the actual Pat material in this movie is terrible and does not work, but there is one element that does kind of work (sort of) and that's in Charles Rocket's performance and subplot as Kyle. Charles Rocket's comic timing is something to be admired as he does a good job of starting this character off from a place of relative normalcy only for him to descend down a path of madness when confronted with the question of Pat's sex. The levels of obsession they take this character are so bizarre and so outrageous (especially a third act where it becomes a borderline psychological thriller) that the off-kilter nature of what you're seeing actually kind of becomes funny. It's really no surprise when you think about it that the Kyle character is the funniest thing in this movie because he's essentially what the original sketches were with some parallels to the Christopher Walken sketch that culminated with his character having an existential crisis that lead to him jumping out a window.

Despite It's Pat's reputation of being a bad comedy, I can't rank it among the worst films or comedies ever made especially due to the Kyle subplot. If you were to edit this film down strictly to the segments only around Kyle it'd be a brilliant short film, but as is, It's Pat features a nugget of a good idea surrounded by bloated excess and failed expansions that make this one of the lesser SNL films.

Will Derringer (John Cena) is a major action star who managed to parlay his film stardom to become President of the United States. Following a failed joint MI6-CIA mission to take down notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov (Paddy Constantine), Will flies to England on a diplomatic mission to jointly address the media alongside Prime Minister of Britain Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) who takes a dim view of the showmanship and swagger with which Will carries his office. Following media fallout from the two's barely concealed resentment during a press conference, both their Chiefs of Staff suggest Will host Sam on Air Force One en route to the NATO summit in Trieste, Italy. However, when the plane is overtaken by mercenaries working for Gradov Will and Sam barely escape with their lives and are left stranded in Belarus with the world assuming the two are dead. Stranded in unfriendly territory and with no hope of rescue, Will and Sam must now find their way to the Summit as they dodge Gradov's mercenaries and unravel a conspiracy that will shake the global foundation.

Heads of State is the latest event film for Amazon's streaming service Prime Video produced through Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon acquired the package, described by insiders as Air Force One meets Midnight Run, in October of 2020 as a vehicle for Idris Elba and John Cena with Hardcore Henry and Nobody director Ilya Naishuller coming on board as director. With a proven cast, high concept premise, and a director who specializes in stylized highly kinetic action Heads of State is loaded with promise, even if it only partially delivers on that promise.

In many ways, Heads of State feels very much like a throwback to the days of high concept blockbusters where a high concept premise would be built and sold around an established lead's clout. You think back to the 90s with movies where every other leading lady was either Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock and every other leading man was either Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, or Mel Gibson and it very much feels like one of those movies from about 20 to 30 years ago that would've come about from that environment. In some ways this does work to the movie's benefit as it is nice to see a movie that isn't overly beholden to burdensome franchise IPs that have long since been exhuasted (creatively if not financially sadly) and for the most part Heads of State does feel quite fun and energized even if I attribute that more to the cast and direction than I do the script. Both John Cena and Idris Elba have good chemistry and comic timing with Cena doing well playing a slightly too happy-go-lucky albeit well-meaning musclehead while Elba is equally good playing an overly uptight but level headed counterpart who scores some good deadpan material in contrast to the more exaggerated style Cena plays with. Despite operating in a larger format than he's used to (and reportedly dealing with reshoots), Naishuller still retains the same playfully violent kinetic charm he cultivated so successfully in Hardcore Henry and Nobody not only with some creatively over the top action beats, but also good placement of the film's soundtrack such as a memorable sequence involving Jack Quaid and the Beastie Boys song Sabotage. Priyanka Chopra Jonas is also good as Noel who serves as a solid straightman/foil to the antics of Will and Sam.

I think the biggest issue that keeps Heads of State from really firing on all cylinders is when it tries to play certain elements for pathos including the central conflict which feels very safe and not all that interesting or provocative. Despite dealing with political figures, Heads of State exists in a weird no man's land where it doesn't actually want to be "too political" in a way that reminded me a bit of that James Garner/Jack Lemmon film My Fellow Americans from 1996 that purposefully sidestepped any real-world political connections, but even that film felt like it took a few more risks than Heads of State even if it had to create an alternate universe of the American political landscape. Naishuller does what he can here but any attempts at playing certain elements seriously just feel very featherweight and only serve to drag down the pacing between the impressive setpieces. The movie also lacks a really good villain as the most prominent one we have in Paddy Considine's Gradov is about as generic as you can make for a movie like this and coupled with a twist villain that the audience will most likely call as soon as they're introduced we really don't have a strong compelling antagonist to face off against our lead characters.

Heads of State is an okay "one-time-watch". While I'd probably recommend checking out Naishuller's prior films like Hardcore Henry or Nobody before this one or even Fight or Flight from earlier this year, there's enough good here that you'll have a good enough time while you're watching it even if it's not quite the sum of its parts.