Bride Wars

Bride Wars

Directed by Gary Winick

(PG)

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Best friends become dueling bridezillas.

Never has a chick flick been so “sexist, mean-spirited, and unforgivably unfunny” as Bride Wars, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson play lifelong friends who share the same dream—to get married at New York’s Plaza Hotel. As their big days approach, the women discover that the hotel mistakenly double-booked them, which sets off a nasty brawl between the best friends. The film tries to be an “epic cat fight in tulle, the besties-turned-frenemies trying to spoil each other’s weddings.” But it’s nothing of the sort, said Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. The billion-dollar wedding industry has the makings for a hilarious satire, but Bride Wars is far too cynical. These heartless brides are so obsessed with putting on the perfect wedding that they completely dismiss the idea of love and romance. They don’t even seem to want husbands, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Bride Wars makes out women to be “empty-headed creatures naturally prone to impractical fantasies and vicious rivalries.” If chick flicks didn’t already have a bad rep, they will now.