Getting married at one of the most opulent places in the world is every girl’s childhood dream. In Bride Wars, a couple of inseparable girlfriends mistakenly have their respective weddings scheduled for the same date, time, and venue. Neither Emma (Anne Hathaway) nor Liv (Kate Hudson) is willing to compromise. Instead, they get furious, and start tearing up and terrorizing each other.
The major chunk of this story is about how, after that clerical error is discovered, the best of friends suddenly turn into the worst of enemies. The writer wishes to thrill the audience by showing the extent that two females can go to, to ruin each other’s happiness.
There comes a point in time when the most timid can rip the crap out of the most seemingly fearless. And when a foot that is used to getting its way in life faces an unexpected uprising from a doormat that refuses to be kicked, it’s sufficient to seriously damage a relationship.
Hudson spews venom. She’s obnoxiousness as a bitchy-bossy aggressive winner who leads the way even in love, who can never take no for an answer, and whose inferiority complex won’t allow her to ever be anything but the number one.
Hathaway doesn’t flaunt a zillion fashionable garments like she does in The Devil Wears Prada, and she’s not as hilarious as she was in Get Smart, but as always, she has a certain charm. Timid, polite, and incapable somehow of saying no to anyone, initially, she allows people to walk all over her. Until the cat in her is aroused. Then, she demonstrates her mental scratching-and-clawing capabilities.
And these are the same girls who in their kiddie days once dressed up, one in a suit and the other in a silken lace wedding gown, and danced innocently like a married couple. That’s how close they were!
Kristen Johnston as Emma’s maid of honor and Bergen as the wedding planner have very little screen time, but add flavor with their presence; the former as a loud-mouthed ruffian, and the latter as the epitome of elegance.
Gary Winick’s wedding film has the anticipated wardrobe extravagance and ostentatious shopping/preparations. The female audience, though, would have been mildly tickled had the intensity of the personal attacks been reduced to the level of harmless, laughable pranks. Further, they would find the catfights between a pair of bosom friends since childhood unpardonable and way too nauseating.
