Movie Review: Bachelorette (2012)

September 9, 2012 / Leave a Comment

BACHELORETTE

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

If not for the impressive showing from the leading ladies, “Bachelorette” would be highly lacking. Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, and Isla Fisher display female vulgarity at its finest, with the honesty of how manipulative ladies can be, even with their closest “friends.” Inside humor runs rampant, as the allusions to past events seem incredibly close to the chest. “Bachelorette” lands in a middle ground between completely believable and almost too believable for the sake of losing entertainment value, with several dead-end plots matched evenly with completely telegraphed story ends.

The story is your standard pre-wedding party. Rebel Wilson catches yet another role without much merit, playing the bride-to-be, Becky, while the three actual leading ladies play her high school friends and bridesmaids. Of course, the night isn’t without its issues. When Becky’s wedding dress is ripped in half by Regan (Dunst) and Gena (Lizzy), the trio must find a way to repair or replace the dress by morning. Against impossible odds and constant drug use, the bridesmaids set out on the New York streets to find their fix.

The film falls short in the severity of the night’s events. If you’re going to tout ruckus, then go all out. You see the conclusions coming from a mile away. There’s very little sex involved given its “R” rating, with the outrageous portions of the night remaining tame in comparison to the film’s fellow genre members, and overall, there’s nothing we haven’t seen before, save for Kirsten Dunst acting like a “Hannibal Lector” bitch. The only hilarious moments are self-aware, for example, Isla Fisher’s character stating that she thinks she’s dumb because she doesn’t understand anything anyone ever says.

Somehow placing a high-profile actress like Kirsten Dunst amid these comedic ladies while reuniting Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott (“Party Down”) creates an overall enjoyable comedy, even if it doesn’t quite live up to “The Hangover” or “Bridesmaids.” Future wedding-related comedies need to learn that since “The Hangover,” we’re used to a certain caliber of debauchery. If you’re not going to take situations to the extreme, then there’s no use in trying to tell a story we’ve all encountered before. “Bachelorette” brings us a new pairing of actresses, but that’s where the film stops being unique.