Bride Wars
By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

Will make you hate brides.

Best friends forever (known as "BFF") Liv (Kate Hudson, also one of the movie's producers) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) are obsessed about only one stated and defined ambition in life: getting married at the Plaza in June. This is not some shabby chic affair. A June Plaza wedding must cost in excess of $200,000, maybe more!

For Liv, a very successful, focused, and tough lawyer, the cost is within her financial range; for Emma, an elementary school teacher, she has saved for 10 years (and will be paying off it off for another ten). Liv and Emma have sweet live-in boyfriends. After both get engaged, their goals are on preparing the biggest, greatest weddings ever conceived by mortals.

I learned a lot about planning a wedding. Its ugly.

For brides-to-be, the Maid of Honor is very important. After meeting with one of the most expensive wedding planners in New York City, Marion St. Claire (weird faced Candice Bergen), their planned dates at the Plaza get double-booked and they are both set for the same date. Neither one will change the date or location so mayhem ensues. Life-long friends, Liv and Emma are hell-bent on ruining the other's wedding. Silly antics, but nothing evil, vicious or funny, occurs.

These formula movies have absolutely no regard for the audience's knowledge of the financial situation presented on the screen. Do you just blow off a wedding that cost $200,000? What about all the family members?

How much does Liv's Vera Wang "Virginia Gown" cost? It looks like something Scarlet O'Hara would have worn to her first wedding. The gown retails for $18,000. That doesn't include the sales tax.

Neither woman has other worthy girlfriends, so Liv has to ask her office assistant to be her Man of Honor and Emma has to ask fellow teacher from hell, Deb (Kristen Johnston), to be her Maid of Honor. Johnston does a terrific job with this self-centered, vile character. All comedies must have this slob that infects a lead's life. Johnston goes balls out, and, just as long as she doesn't demand to do a lead in a love story or Shakespeare, has a nice supporting player career. Currently reigning Jane Lynch, you now have some competition!

I hate myself for liking Kate Hudson. She's smart and knows that she can't play the dumb blond roles. I haven't been kind to her in the distant past ("The Four Feathers"). I really liked "The Skelton Key" and I would love to see Hudson do more demanding roles. There are only so many "My Best Friend's Girl" an actress can do.

As a producer, Hudson gave herself so much blond hair extensions that it is a leading character in "Bride Wars". Hudson's hair overwhelmed every scene she was in. It was intentional. I barely noticed Hathaway when she and Hudson's hair were in a scene together. Hathaway was a good sport and maybe she needed the paycheck. And, with "Rachel Getting Married", Hathaway knows she can do a chic flick produced by Kate Hudson without causing too much damage to her career.

Had the writers, Greg DePaul, Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael (it took 3 writers to come up with nothing clever or funny?) or the director, Gary Winick, gone into "The Wedding Crashers" raunchy terrain, "Bride Wars" could have been a solid hit. Instead, we get two 30 year olds being childish and not being very good and truthful friends. And when they get nasty, it's just a minor slip on the path to The Plaza.

My weekly column, "The Devil's Hammer," is posted every Monday. The Devil's Hammer on FTB. If you would like to be included on my private distribution list for a weekly preview, just email me at masauu@aol.com.

Victoria Alexander lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and answers every email. You can contact Victoria directly at masauu@aol.com.