Rated: MA 15+
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, James Marsden, Adam Scott, and Rebel Wilson
Written by: Leslye Headland
Directed by: Leslye Headland
In 1995’s The Usual Suspects, Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint tells police that, “the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the World he didn’t exist.” But Bachelorette proves that the greatest trick a bitch could ever pull is convincing people she’s a nice person.
Dunst plays Regan, indisputable Queen Bee of a group of friends known in high school as the B-Faces (it’s almost a given that they were called many other things behind their backs. And possibly to their faces). When fellow B-Face Becky (Wilson) announces to Regan that she is getting married, Regan turns to Gena (Caplan) and Katie (Fisher) for moral support. But a horrible mistake the night before the wedding leaves Regan, Gena and Katie with mere hours to prove to Becky that they aren’t the worst things that have ever happened to her.
Though it shares a similar theme, and also features a strong female cast, Bachelorette probably owes more to 2009’s The Hangover than 2011’s Bridesmaids. Rather than an amusing, yet ultimately heart-warming, look at the ways in which planning a wedding places a strain on friendships and already fragile personal lives, Bachelorette’s focus is on a group of selfish people, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, who almost destroy the only decent human being among their friendship group. And just like The Hangover, Bachelorette is about the swings and roundabouts of lifelong friendships: despite growing up and moving on, the B-Faces group dynamic never changes – whether that’s a good or bad thing is for us to decide.
It’s difficult to pick a standout from the cast – they are all incredibly talented – but this really is Dunst’s film. It would be easy to play Regan as utterly unredeemable: she believes she is more entitled to happiness (which in her case is being married) than Becky because she believes she’s more intelligent, has a better career, and is more attractive. Yet Dunst imbues her with vulnerability and even gives Regan a maternal streak, revealing that begrudgingly or not, she is always there for her friends and understands the perils women face in their transition from girlhood to womanhood. Fans of the cult television series Party Down will be happy to see Caplan and Scott reunited as Gena and Clyde, high school sweethearts whose relationship breakdown still haunts both of them. The wedding almost becomes a backdrop for their emotional journey, and a nice break from the tension of the girls’ mission to save Becky’s wedding. Wilson shows her versatility, playing a relatively ‘straight man’ role, and Fisher is a comic genius once more as Katie, who unfortunately (yet hilariously for the audience) has not changed and may never change. Add to the mix a fast-paced plot from writer/director Headland (who adapted the screenplay from her Off-Broadway play), and a killer soundtrack and you’ve got a film that delivers on multiple levels.
Bachelorette is a finely crafted comedy about an all-too-familiar subject and a more entertaining way than Facebook stalking to find out what happened to the bitches you went to school with.
5/5
Reviewer: Sallie Pritchard