Bride Wars (2009)

"Sometimes the only funny stuff is in the trailers, but not so here. Kristen Johnson was especially adept at stealing some scenes.  Olivia Putnal, Premiere
"If you came to see two pretty girls in wedding dresses wrestle, you won't be disappointed.  Reyhan Harmanci, San Francisco Chronicle
"A chick flick in the purest sense--it's not about men or falling in love--and is quite funny.  Stina Chyn, Film Threat

Editor's Note Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway go veiled head to veiled head in this bridal comedy. Childhood friends Liv (Hudson) and Anne (Hathaway) have dreamed of June weddings at the Plaza since they were kids, and now their fantasy is finally within reach. Both young women have gotten proposals, and they've booked their dates at the famed Manhattan landmark. But a mistake in the office of their wedding planner, Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen), causes their weddings to be scheduled on the same day, and neither woman will budge. Harsh words escalate into sabotage, and each woman craftily plots the demise of the other's wedding until events reach a screeching, squealing pitch on a sunny June day. With roles in films such as HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS and MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL, Hudson has perfected starring in light comedies. In BRIDE WARS, she doesn't take her usual romantic route, and she displays good chemistry with the always fine Hathaway. The romances between the brides and their respective grooms (EVERWOOD's Chris Pratt and REBA's Steve Howey) aren't the point; instead, it's the creative one-upmanship that Liv and Emma engage in to the detriment of their lifelong friendship. For those who mark pages in bridal magazines, BRIDE WARS may provide escapist fare a la BRIDEZILLAS or the romantic comedy 27 DRESSES. They'll just have to cross their ringed fingers that their weddings go off better than the prank-filled events of Liv and Emma.

	Kate Hudson
	Anne Hathaway
	Kristen Johnson
	Candice Bergen
	Bryan Greenberg
	Greg DePaul - Screenwriter
	Kate Hudson - Producer
	Julie Yorn - Producer
	Jay Cohen - Executive Producer
	Arnon Milchan - Executive Producer
	June Diane Raphael - Screenwriter
	Casey Wilson - Screenwriter
	Greg DePaul - Story
	Edward Shearmur - Composer
	Alan Riche - Producer
	Jonathan Filley - Executive Producer
	Matt Luber - Executive Producer
	Tony Ludwig - Executive Producer
	Frederick Elmes - Director of Photography
	Gary Winick - Director

Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
Is there anyone old enough to care about weddings and naive enough to believe "Bride Wars"? Here is a sitcom about consumerism, centering on two bubble-brained women and their vacuous fiances, and providing them with not a single line that is smart or witty. The dialogue is fiercely on topic, dictated by the needs of the plot, pounding down the home stretch in cliches, obligatory truisms and shrieks...Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, who play the would-be brides, are good actors and quick-witted women, here playing characters at a level of intelligence approximating HAL 9000 after he has had his chips pulled. No one can be this superficial and survive without professional care...I am sure there are women who will enjoy "Bride Wars," as a man might enjoy a film about cars and Hooters girls. It's like a moving, talking version of Brides magazine...Women and men have different visions of wedding ceremonies. This I know from "Father of the Bride" (1991), with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton as the parents. Martin envisions the swell ceremony he will provide for his daughter: lots of balloons in the backyard and him manning the barbecue grill. Keaton gently corrects him. Even at the time I reviewed the movie, there was a newspaper story about a father who offered his daughter the choice of a nice ceremony or a condo..."Bride Wars" is pretty thin soup. The characters have no depth or personality, no quirks or complications, no conversation. The story twist is so obvious from the first shot of two characters talking that they should have been waving handkerchiefs over their heads and signaling: Watch this space for further developments. The whole story is narrated by Bergen as the wedding coordinator, who might as well have been instructing us how to carve bars of Ivory Soap into little ducks. - Roger Ebert

Salon.com 5 of 10
There's no use getting worked up about "Bride Wars," a bizarrely retrograde comedy about two lifelong friends -- played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway -- who, since they were tiny tots, have dreamed of one day getting married at the Plaza Hotel in New York...It's possible you could take that concept and turn it into a movie that's good, fluffy fun. It's also possible that putting barbecue skewers through your eyeballs might not be as painful as you expect -- but do you really want to try it? "Bride Wars" was directed by Gary Winick, whose track record includes the heartfelt romantic comedy "13 Going on 30" and the lovely 2005 adaptation of "Charlotte's Web." But "Bride Wars" -- written by Greg DePaul, Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael, from a story by DePaul -- barely seems to carry his touch. Even if you can get past the boneheaded premise, the picture feels halfhearted in its construction...I'd like to say that Hudson and Hathaway are at least fun to watch, but they're not: Over the past few years Hudson has been dribbling away whatever talent she's got instead of developing it. Her trademark expression here is a too-cute squint: She squinches up her eyes to show how much determination and drive her character has. I won't give up on Hudson yet -- she's given fine performances in movies like "The Skeleton Key" and "Almost Famous" -- but her aggressive adorableness is quickly becoming the punch line to a tired joke...Hathaway, on the other hand, has already proved she's capable of giving us much more than the fluttery Bambi-eyed routine in Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married." But in "Bride Wars," she's back to doing little more than blinking those impossibly huge peepers. She's not as wearying as Hudson is, but that's not saying much. - Stephanie Zacharek