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

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

Plot[link]

Emma Allen (Anne Hathaway) and Olivia 'Liv' Lerner (Kate Hudson) are best friends who have planned every detail of their weddings, since first witnessing a wedding 20 years ago at the Plaza Hotel. Therefore, they both have made it a lifetime priority to be married in the same location in June.

The movie begins with the two women getting engaged at the age of 26. They then schedule their weddings with New York's most famous wedding planner, Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen), but due to a clerical error they are scheduled to have a wedding on the same day, June 6 (3 and a half months later). 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 fiancé, Fletcher (Chris Pratt), begins to show signs of being controlling.

Both women attempt to sabotage each other's wedding, including Liv making Emma's tan turn bright orange, Emma tampering with Liv's hair dye to turn Liv's hair a shocking blue-white colour, Emma showing up to Liv's bachelorette party to out-dance her, and Emma secretly sending Liv candy to make her too fat to fit into her dress. Eventually, Emma and Fletcher 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 are due to be wed, separately. Right before Liv leaves to begin her march to the altar, she encounters Emma's father and receives his blessing; she regrets setting up a wild spring break DVD to play at Emma's wedding. She sends her assistant Kevin (Michael Arden) to replace the wrong DVD with the right one, filled with childhood memories. However, thinking that the DVD is for a prank, he does not do so, dropping it into a flowerpot and muttering, "You'll thank me one day."

Emma begins her walk down the aisle 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 lie 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 that she is not the same person he fell in love with 10 years ago and that she has now changed. With that, the two tearfully call off their wedding. Liv's wedding resumes with Emma participating and, eventually, dancing with Nate, Liv's brother.

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

Cast[link]

• Kate Hudson as Olivia "Liv" Lerner, a successful attorney at Ropes & Gray 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 as Emma Allan, a middle school teacher who takes care of everyone, but forgets about having some time for herself.
• Candice Bergen as Marion St. Claire, New York's most sought-after wedding planner, to whom both girls turn when planning their wedding. She also serves as the narrator of the story.
• Chris Pratt as Fletcher Flemson, Emma's fiance. Fletcher is an accountant and the two of them met ten years prior to the film's events.
• Bryan Greenberg as Nathan "Nate" Lerner,Liv's older brother who is in love with Emma.
• Steve Howey as Daniel Williams, Liv's fiance and a hedge fund manager.
• Kristen Johnston as 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 as Kevin, Liv's assistant at work, whom she recruits to be her "Mister of Honor."
• June Diane Raphael as Amanda, a friend of Emma and Liv's who gets married at the start of the film.
• Casey Wilson as Stacy Kindred, another bride and one of Marion St. Claire's clients.
• Paul Scheer as Ricky Coo, dance choreographer who calls himself "The Doctor of Dance"
• John Pankow as John Allen, Emma's dad.
• Hettienne Park as Marissa, one of Emma and Liv's closest friends.
• Lauren Bittner as Amie, one of Emma and Liv's closest friends.
• Billy Unger as Additional voices

Production[link]

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.

Music[link]

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]

In the beginning of the film, the song "Somethin' Special" by Colbie Caillat was played, however this version had different lyrics than the Beijing Olympic Mix, suggesting that it was the original mix. As the film did not have a soundtrack, the original version remained unreleased until Caillat's album Breakthrough was released, where the song appears as a bonus track on the Rhapsody edition.^[7] There is also the song "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn.

Reception[link]

Bride Wars has been panned by critics. The film has received an 11% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 140 collected reviews.^[8] Time named it one of the top 10 worst chick flicks.^[9]

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.^[10] 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."^[11] 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."^[12]

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.^[13] By the end of the year, even when Kermode included Terminator Salvation and Couples Retreat on his list by popular demand, Bride Wars still finished eighth, allowing him to keep his job.^[14]

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."^[15]

Apart from negative reviews, the film was nominated for 2 awards at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Anne Hathaway was nominated for Best Female Performance and it was also nominated for Best Fight. (Anne Hathaway vs. Kate Hudson).^[16][17] It also had several Teen Choice Award nominations.^{[citation needed]} Candice Bergen was nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.

Box office performance[link]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21,058,173 ranking #2 at the box office.^[1] As of May 26, 2009, it has made $58,715,510 in the United States and Canada, $55,982,521 in foreign countries and a total of $115,049,554 worldwide — a success given its largely negative reviews.^[1]

Awards[link]

Won[link]

• 2009 - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Comedy Movie Actress (Anne Hathaway)

Nominated[link]

• 2009 - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Comedy Movie Actress (Kate Hudson)
• 2009 - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Hissy Fit (Kate Hudson)
• 2009 - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Rockstar Moment (Anne Hathaway)
• 2009 - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Rumble (Anne Hathaway) & (Kate Hudson)
• 2009 - MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance (Anne Hathaway)
• 2009 - MTV Movie Awards for Best Fight (Anne Hathaway) & (Kate Hudson)
• 2010 - Razzie Awards for Worst Supporting Actress (Candice Bergen)
• 2010 - People's Choice Awards for Favourite Comedy Movie

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Bride Wars at the Internet Movie Database
• Bride Wars at AllRovi
• Bride Wars at Box Office Mojo