Bride Wars (2009)

Two best friends become rivals when they schedule their respective weddings on the same day.

Director:

Gary Winick

Writers:

Greg DePaul (screenplay), Casey Wilson (screenplay),

Stars:

Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Bryan Greenberg

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Hudson	...	Liv
Anne Hathaway	...	Emma
Bryan Greenberg	...	Nate
Chris Pratt	...	Fletcher
Steve Howey	...	Daniel
Candice Bergen	...	Marion
Kristen Johnston	...	Deb
Michael Arden	...	Kevin
Victor Slezak	...	Colson
Kelly Coffield Park	...	Kathy
John Pankow	...	John
Zoe O'Grady	...	Young Liv
Shannon Ferber	...	Young Emma
June Diane Raphael	...	Amanda
Charles Bernard	...	Wedding DJ

Storyline

In Manhattan, the lawyer Liv and the school teacher Emma have been best friends since their childhood. They both are proposed to by their boyfriends on the same day and they plan their wedding parties in Plaza Hotel, using the services of the famous Marion St. Claire. However, due to Marion's secretary's mistake, their weddings are scheduled for the same day. None of them agrees to change the date and they become enemies, trying to sabotage the wedding party of the rival.

---

Plot Keywords:

wedding | best friend | wedding party | hotel | school teacher | 

---

Taglines:

Childhood friends. Best Friends. Two Brides. Two Weddings. One Mistake

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for suggestive content, language and some rude behavior

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [France] Fox International

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Guerra de novias

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,717,894 (UK) (9 January 2009)

Gross:

$58,715,510 (USA) (8 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally, the film was conceived as a teen comedy. Emma Roberts was set to star as Liv and Nikki Reed as Emma. It was later envisioned as a comedy for young adults with Kate Hudson as Liv and Anne Hathaway as Emma.

---

Goofs

When the girls are about to toast to Liv's engagement at the bar: Everyone but Emma is holding a full shot glass, when the scene changes, Liv and the one friend are holding a half full shot glass, while Marissa changes to a wine glass while they are still in the middle of the toast.

---

Quotes

[from trailer]
Emma: [to Liv] Your wedding's gonna be huge, just like your ass at prom.
Liv: Your wedding can suck it.

---

Connections

Featured in Bad Movie Beatdown: Bride Wars (2010)

---

Soundtracks

"Happy"
Written by Natasha Bedingfield, Tobias Gad, and Meleni Smith
Performed by Natasha Bedingfield
Courtesy of Epic Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

Bride Wars Review from The Massie Twins

If you're looking for a comedy with weird plot twists and a sprinkling of humor, then you'll still be searching - Bride Wars excels at the former and sadly fails at the latter. It's not entirely silly sabotage and witless laughs as a few scenes and characters do stand out of the cliché wedding comedy crowd, but ultimately the tragic outcomes and easy clean-up of a far too messy situation will leave viewers wishing for a more comfortably predictable plot line.

Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) have been best friends since childhood and both have always dreamed of a gorgeous June wedding at the luxurious Plaza Hotel. When both girls' boyfriends ask for their hands in marriage, Liv and Emma enlist the highly reputable wedding planner Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen) to acquire their dream locale. Unfortunately a clerical error has their weddings set on the same day and thus begins a rivalry of increasingly ruthless sabotage as both girls refuse to reschedule their most important day.

No experimentation or originality can be seen in Bride Wars. Everything is terribly formulaic, from the music-narrated montages to the carefully patterned dialogue to the high points and low points for each of the heroines. When a half-expected love triangle forms, it is completely unnecessary and sorely mislaid - this is the kind of film where each event is better off contributing solely to comedy and every sad moment is best coated with ridiculous gags and off-the-wall mood-shifting resolutions. Touches of seriousness have no place in Bride Wars, which struggles so greatly with its adult dilemmas that the moments of humor feel forced - shoved into the cracks to even out the heartbreak most won't be feeling for these cookie-cutter characters.

If it wasn't bad enough that no individuality finds its way through all the girl-oriented giggling, hormonal wedding craze and subdued cat-fighting, the humor itself is oftentimes indecipherable from the drama. Sometimes it's funny to see these girls bitterly attack one another even if we're meant to sympathize, and other times it's disheartening when we're supposed to be laughing. Either way, so little of the film sparks interest or concern over two hopelessly contrived, generic best friends that it would be as wasteful to debate over them as it was to spoil two hours of valuable time watching the film. Hopefully even the target audience will realize the recycled, uninspired nature of Bride Wars.

• The Massie Twins