BRIDE WARS  

Movies about brides and weddings usually make money, so after such silly flicks as "Wedding Crashers" and "27 Dresses", we now have "Bride Wars". It's a comedy about two best friends, Liv and Emma, who have been in love with weddings even as little girls and have planned the details of their own weddings since childhood. The chick flick starts with them as little girls and even then, they have already resolved that their wedding will be held at New York's plush Plaza Hotel in the bridal month of June.

They are now in their mid-20s, still the best of friends but with their respective live in boyfriends. Liv (Kate Hudson, last seen in the flop "My Best Friend's Girlfriend") lives with Daniel (Steve Howey) while Emma (Anne Hathaway, who's been winning awards for "Rachel Getting Married") lives with Fletcher (Chris Pratt). When their boyfriends finally propose to them, they are both jubilant and they proceed together to the best wedding planner in town, Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen), who succeeded in getting them scheduled at the Plaza in June.

But instead of living blisfully ever after, their happiness soon gets clouded when an error on the part of Marion's secretary results in both of their weddings being booked on the same day and time slot. The worst part is that no one wants to give way and the two best friends become the worst of enemies, resulting in an escalating series of pranks where they try to humiliate and sabotage each other, ultimately destroying their life long friendship. Liv is a hotshot lawyer who's used to getting whatever she wants, including the perfect wedding she's been dreaming of since childhood. Emma is a schoolteacher who has a soft heart and always giving in to others. But this time, she's not as malleable and so an all out war erupts between her and her former bosom buddy that makes them mortal combantants. Emma switches Liv's hair dye and her blonde hair ends being colored blue. Emma also sends her chocolates and cookies to make her gain weight so that she will no longer fit into her expensive Vera Wang wedding gown. Liv, in turn, switches Emma's tanning lotion to make her skin colored orange and also spreads the rumor that she's already pregnant.

Directed by Gary Winick ("13 Going On 30"), the movie has very few laugh out loud laughs and it has a rather weak ending where the two leads make fools of themselves in a catfight. As we watch it, we keep on thinking how the writers could have made their script funnier for this wedding-themed comedy that makes the friendship between the two female leads as the most significant relationship in the movie.

We figured it would have been more riotous if Emma and Liv, since their friendship is obviously the most important relationship in the story, finally realized that they're both marrying insipid guys and it would have been much better for them if they'd just end up marrying each other. Wouldn't it have been funnier if the movie ended with them eloping and then hieing off to some state where they allow same sex marriage?

What makes this very superficial film quite watchable is the energetic performance of the two leads, especially Anne who's deliciously goofy as the schoolteacher, a doormat to her bullying co-teacher (Kristen Johnson), who finally puts her foot down for once. Her best scene is when she gatecrashes Kate's bachelorette party and dances wildly to the embarrasment of their mutual firneds. The actors who play their partners are both flavorless and, truth to tell, the actor who played Liv's brother, Nate (Bryan Greenberg), certainly looks more promising.