The treatment of women in ‘Bride Wars’

Bride Wars is “a crass, despicably sexist piece of Hollywood trash,” said Josh Bell in Las Vegas Weekly. The movie is about childhood friends, played by Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, who "turn into evil shrews" when they realize their weddings are scheduled for the same day (watch the trailer here, via YouTube). It reduces women “to irrational, wedding-crazy stereotypes, apparently unable to focus on anything beyond superficial, materialistic desires.”

Bride Wars isn't perfect, said Bob Strauss in The Mercury News, but its "genuinely wicked spirit" is actually its main strength. Director Gary Winick clearly encouraged his leading ladies to “go hell-bent for” nastiness. But somehow Winick keeps his leads on “this side of despicable, if not wildly egocentric,” and their “character growth, superficial as it is, nonetheless seems earned.”

And the chemistry between Hathaway and Hudson feels real, said Amy Nicholson in Inland Empire Weekly. So their clash comes off as a showdown between genuine human beings, “not wedding-obsessed fembots.” Give the film a chance, and you'll find that it's one of the "most empathetic" takes on women you've seen in a romantic comedy in years.

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