When the trailer for Bachelorette hit the Internet, people responded loudly and skeptically on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. The trailer revealed a cast that included Kirsten Dunst, coming off the biggest critical hit of her career with Melancholia; new comedic favorite Rebel Wilson, whose bit part in Bridesmaids was arguably the funniest part of the film; Lizzy Caplan, best known for playing the unforgettable Janice Ian in the equally as unforgettable Mean Girls, and Isla Fisher, most memorable for playing a psychopathic sex-fiend in Wedding Crashers. For a movie fan, the cast looked solid, but the premise, and even the film's title, seemed like a rip-off of Kristen Wiig's hit 2010 film, Bridesmaids.
People, still entirely unconvinced, responded accordingly. Blogs on my Tumblr dashboard provided some notable reactions, including "Kirsten [Dunst], you are now a critic's darling! Why would you take this unoriginal role!?" "Rebel [Wilson], we get that Bridesmaids made you almost a household name, but being in the same film twice is not a good career move!" Honestly, I was one of these concerned people. Here's how the trailer portrays the film: Regan (Dunst) and Becky (Wilson) are BFFs, and much to Regan's dismay, she has been asked to be the maid of honor at Becky's wedding. Dealing with the stress of her best friend finding true love before she does while trying to be a good maid of honor leads to a series of amusing mishaps, enhanced by the wild duo comprised of pals Gena (Caplan) and Katie (Fisher), which risks Regan's friendship with Becky-in short, kind of, sort of, the plot of Bridesmaids. Though wary of this done-before theme, I tried to go into watching Bachelorette with an open mind and surprisingly, I enjoyed it.
The fact that Dunst is the film's biggest name, along with her being featured most prominently in the trailer, made it seem like the film was going to be led by her, presumably as she tries to become the next Kristen Wiig. In reality though, Bachelorette, unlike Bridesmaids, is an ensemble comedy in which Dunst's screen time is equally shared with Caplan and Fisher. In fact, Caplan, always good at playing rude and witty roles, such as Casey on the hilarious, short-lived series Party Down steals the show. Her performance is enhanced by her romantic pairing with Adam Scott, known for playing Ben Wyatt on the brilliant Parks and Recreation, and also Caplan's love interest on Party Down.
In addition to this, the film is different from Bridesmaids in that none of the leading characters is likeable. Regan is unforgivably selfish and rude, making fun of Becky's weight and yelling at the wedding planners. Katie is almost incomprehensibly dumb, and when asked to make a speech at the rehearsal dinner simply announces, "I lost my cell phone." Gena also lacks any semblance of manners, making a tasteless joke in her rehearsal dinner speech about Becky's high school bulimia. The girls, who appropriately call themselves the "B-faces," are written to be ridiculously horrible for comedic effect. The things they do and say are funny, but only if they're not taken seriously. If viewers can successfully appreciate the character's actions as simply elements of humor, then watching Bachelorette will come with many laughs.
At the one hour mark, viewers may feel like they have the film figured out: it's a raunchy comedy, not trying to force any message or humility on these characters who are far beyond the point of being relatable or likeable. During the film's fast-paced final 30 minutes, however, Bachelorette hits a rough patch as the plot attempts to redeem these terrible people, ending up feeling forced and fake. Seemingly out of nowhere, Gena realizes that the B-faces have been behaving poorly and attempts to make amends with Becky. Katie remains too lost to understand what is going on, but she feels bad about it anyway. The film's romantic subplots, in which each girl is being pursued by her own perfectly matched man, also wrap up too quickly for closure. At many of the final moments, the film feels annoyingly clich?(c).
As a viewer, I couldn't bring myself to forgive Bachelorette's characters the way I apparently was supposed to, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy watching them be awful. During the majority of the film, Gena and Katie, who are supposed to be 30 years old, are high on cocaine, something the characters are implied as doing often. There is also an especially hilarious scene in which Gena describes her method of a certain sex act to a strange man sitting next to her on an airplane. However rushed its ending, Bachelorette produces many great comedic moments. Overall, the film is a bunch of talented actors doing ridiculous and funny things. Don't spend $10 at the theater on it, and don't expect it to win an Oscar, but in a few months, rent it and enjoy some laughs with your friends.