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Bride Wars is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Gary Winick and written by Greg DePaul and June Raphael and SNL's Casey Wilson.[2]

The film stars Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Candice Bergen, Bryan Greenberg, Chris Pratt, Steve Howey and Kristen Johnston.

Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Liv (Kate Hudson) are best friends who have planned every detail of their weddings since they first witnessed a wedding at the Plaza Hotel. Therefore, they both have made it lifetime priority to be married in the same location.

The movie begins with the two women getting engaged at the shared age of 26. They then schedule their weddings with New York's most famous wedding planner, but due to a clerical error they're scheduled to have a wedding on the same day. A week of passive aggressive hostility passes before the two women make it clear that neither will compromise, especially after Liv tries to take advantage of Emma's passive nature and outrages Emma in the process. During this time Emma's fiance, Fletcher, begins to show signs of being controlling.

The women both attempt to sabotage the other's wedding, including Liv making Emma's tan turn bright orange, Emma tampering with Liv's hair dye to make it turn Liv's hair blue-white, Emma showing up to Liv's bachelorette party to outdance her, and Emma secretly sending Liv candy to make her not fit into her dress. After the latter event Emma and her fiance get into an argument regarding Emma's manic behavior of sabotaging Liv's wedding and their friendship.

Both brides-to-be are then shown to be in the Plaza very shortly before they're due to be wed, separately. Right before Liv leaves to begin her march to the altar she tells her assistant to play the footage from a CD on a projection screen in Emma's part of the plaza. The CD contains a montage of memorable events in Emma's life, whereas the CD Liv had already set up (sabotage) to play contained a clip of Emma drunk and dancing wildly on a previous spring break. Liv's assistant drops the CD behind a flower vase while muttering, "you'll thank me one day," to himself.

Emma begins her walk down the aisle with the best man but stops when the footage of her spring break is shown. She loses her temper completely and tackles Liv after sprinting to the other section of the plaza. The two brides wrestle in their dresses on the floor while the rest of the room looks on, the people closest to the brides having decided it would be best to let the brides resolve the problem. After tussling Emma and Liv lay on the ground panting, and then make up almost instantly. Emma stands up and walks over to Fletcher who is upset at Emma's behavior. Emma tells Fletcher she is not the person he fell in love with and she is unwilling to change to stay with him. Liv's wedding resumes with Emma happily participating, dancing with Nate, Liv's brother.

The movie picks up a year later when Emma and Liv meet up for "drinks", during which it's revealed that Emma married Nate. Emma and Liv also reveal to each other that they're pregnant and that their due dates are the same, March 3rd.

Production

Raphael and Wilson completed the shooting script of Bride Wars, from an original script by Greg DePaul,[3] before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began.[4] Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith also contributed to the screenplay.[2][4]

Some principal photography took place at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.[5] Most filming occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, New York, and in Salem, Massachusetts.

Cast

• Kate Hudson – Olivia "Liv" Lerner: A successful lawyer who is used to getting her way, and won't settle for anything else. She attempts to be perfect, ever since her parents died when she was a child.
• Anne Hathaway – Emma Allen: A middle school teacher who takes care of everyone, but forgets about having some time for herself.
• Candice Bergen – Marion St. Claire: New York's most sought-after wedding planner, whom both girls turn to when planning their wedding. She also serves as the narrator of the story.
• Chris Pratt – Fletcher, Emma's fiance. They met ten years prior to the film's events.
• Bryan Greenberg – Nathan 'Nate' Lerner, Liv's brother. A young magazine writer.
• Steve Howey – Daniel, Liv's fiance.
• Kristen Johnston – Deb: An obnoxious, lazy woman who is one of Emma's colleagues. She continually unloads her entire workload on Emma. She eventually becomes Emma's maid of honor.
• Michael Arden - Kevin, Liv's assistant at work, whom she recruits to be her 'Mister of Honor'
• Casey Wilson – Stacy Kindred, another bride and client of Marion.
• John Pankow – John Allen, Emma's dad
• Paul Scheer – Ricky Coo, Doctor of Dance
• June Raphael – Amanda, a friend of Emma and Liv's who gets married at the start of the film.
• Hettienne Park - Marissa, one of Emma and Liv's two closest friends.
• Lauren Bittner - Amie, one of Emma and Liv's two closest friends.

Music

The score to Bride Wars was composed by Edward Shearmur, who recorded his score with a 77-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.[6]

Reception

Bride Wars has been met with negative reviews from critics. The film has received a 12% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 125 collected reviews.[7]

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called the film "dopey if largely painless". She said that Hathaway's presence meant "that there’s a little acting in it, along with a few human emotions" and wondered what the film might have been if the writers had explored a potential lesbian subtext suggested by the opening scenes.[8] Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "How bad can a movie be, with Goldilocks Hudson and Cinderella Hathaway? So excruciating that Hudson's sunshine can't warm it and Hathaway's rose redolence can't mask its stink."[9] Ty Burr of the Boston Globe was disturbed by the film, claiming that it was "...a chick flick that makes its chick characters -- and by extension its chick audience -- look like hateful, backward toddlers, and there is something wrong with that."[10] Longtime BBC Radio Five critic Mark Kermode was notably harsh toward the film, going so far as to say that he would quit film criticism if Bride Wars did not end up in his list of 10 worst films of 2009.[11]

In one of the few positive reviews of the film, Time critic Mary Pols wrote, "At least, and this is something to be grateful for, Bride Wars deviates from the usual wedding-flick routine of maids of honor who should be the bride (or groom). And even though the catfighting goes over the top, the notion that a passionate female friendship can turn ugly in a heartbeat is, sadly, realistic."[12]

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21,058,173 ranking #2 at the box office.[1] As of April 6, 2009, it has made $58,510,270 in the United States and Canada, $54,125,000 in foreign countries and a total of $112,635,270 worldwide.[1]

75 Comments »

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Little Girls' Fantasies Can Be Dangerous

I really couldn't watch this all the way through. Kate Hudson, who also
co-produced, and Anne Hathaway, have a good screen chemistry and the
best chums thing between them works fine. But Anne Hathaway looks
haggard and anorexic next to Kate Hudson, who seems to be in the pink
and just as healthy as Hathaway looks ill. But the thing which is
distressing is the theme. Yes, it could have been really funny, but no,
it is 'too close to the bone' and is a kind of nightmare. I realize it
was meant to be an amusing and satirical nightmare, but in many places
it comes too near to being serious, and the whole thing is very
uncomfortable. There really are girls, and we have probably all known
some, who have this deep psychiatric problem of full-blown unhealthy
wedding obsession and extreme white dress fetishism. Here we find two
best friends whose weddings, about which they have been obsessing all
their lives, are accidentally scheduled for the same day at the same
location, and war breaks out. It could have been so funny ha ha. But it
isn't. It is too real. It is all too disturbing and rather nauseating.
A great idea to have over a cocktail when you are trying to dream up a
story for a really fun film, but something to drop when you are sober.
Never, never, should they really have made this. The contrived story in
itself is funny, but what lies behind it all is nauseating even to
contemplate. After all, those spoilt brat girls to whom the men they
drag to the altar are mere accessories, the revolting pampered
lifestyle, the disgustingly vulgar diamond engagement rings which they
gaze upon in the way a devout Catholic nun might gaze at a holy relic,
the assumption that their personal gratification is of universal and
supreme importance, the disregard of real life's priorities, the
suffocating and oblivious self-indulgence of these empty creatures
portrayed in the film, - all of this makes me want to throw up. (Sorry,
got the computer screen wet with flecks of sick, but it will wipe off I
suppose.)

robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom - 28 June 2009

mildly funny PG rated comedy

Anne Hathaway & Kate Hudson are the stars in this very mild comedy of
comic hi-jinx. They are best friends since childhood & are to be
married in The Plaza Hotel, This has been their dream since they saw a
wedding at same hotel 10 years back.It is a very romantic location. It just so happens that the only time
open is the same for both weddings. They even have a cat-fight towards
the ending.Candace Bergen has next to nothing to do in here small role.It is a very light soufflé & due to the stars credit it is somewhat
enjoyable.However, the running time is a short fast 89 minutes & was not worth
the high admission prices to see this alone.It definitely needed another feature with it,For those who will see this on DVD,You will probably want to watch or
do some thing after after.Ratings: **1/2 (out of 4) 66 Points (out of 100) IMDb 6 (out of 10)

Jay Harris (sirbossman6969@yahoo.com) from United States - 27 June 2009

Unless this is the ONLY film left in your video rental store, do not rent or buy it

I went into the cinema with very low expectations. Very low. I'm
usually very lenient with films and am not picky, but this film,
honestly, If I hadn't been there with a friend, I would have got up and
left. My expectations weren't even close to being met.The film surrounds two best friends, who, by mistake, have their
wedding booked in the same place, same day, and oh my gosh, can you
believe it, the same time!!!! Shocking, isn't it? Neither of them want
to move their date, so they start fighting. Then, the film takes you
through a series of weak attempts to get back at one another. Totally
unpredictable, I know. That's basically the entire film, aside from
what is supposedly a "surprising twist" to finish of the film. The script was empty and there was no chemistry at all. I had virtually no expectations of this film, but I some how came out
disappointed. Unless this is the ONLY film left in your video rental store, do not
rent or buy it. You'll regret it.

BaliBoAli from Australia - 26 June 2009

My feelings

I thought that the movie was decent. There weren't a lot of laugh out
loud moments in the movie, but it was humorous. The whole movie seemed
to move in a very predictable manner. The only completely unpredictable
part was the bride leaving her fiancé. I thought that it didn't make a
lot of sense. It seemed that it was just thrown in to make the two
being in the wedding together work. My big criticism of the movie would
be that it didn't have enough of the back & fourth antics. I would have
love to see even more pranks between the brides. It was definitely an
easy going flick. There isn't much to think about or get offended with
and it stars two very attractive females. I would say to check this
movie out if you aren't up for some raunchier & funnier films and like
movies about the process of planning a wedding.

tchern7777 from United States - 23 June 2009

Fun movie to watch with your spouse or prospective spouse.

Let me tell you that the movie is not as bad as what is said in the
other reviews. The movie is full of sequences you can laugh at / with.
I agree that the story line is not for someone expecting complicated
scenarios and plots but a simple story line with lots of things you can
laugh about. Also, the movie is a perfect chick-flic, so if your
girlfriend or wife is into these kinda movies then Bride Wars would be
an excellent choice for a light entertainment. If you are critically
looking at the movie to see what you can gain emotionally or
intellectually, then, I can say the movie really brings out the
differences between guys and girls and the issues that could bring in
misunderstandings.I am not a guy who usually enjoys such movies but surprisingly enjoyed
the light hearted comedy in this movie with my wife and two other
couples. Though you cannot expect anything very exciting or
mind-boggling, the movie is a good entertainer for people who like to
go to the movies without stressing their minds.

vachanj from Bangalore, India - 17 June 2009

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