REVIEWED: Bride Wars

The Plot: Lifelong friends Liv and Emma have both shara common dream their entire lives: having their own dream wedding at the Plaza Hotel. As each of them is proposed to and accepts they book an appointment with a well respected wedding planner and each get a date for their ceremony at the Plaza. All is going well until a scheduling mistake happens, causing their weddings to have been booked on the same day. Now only one question remains: which will give up her dreams of a Plaza wedding and reschedule somewhere else? Neither is willing, and thus Bride Wars ensues.

While I realize that the plot is highly unrealistic and over the top I stilled thoroughly enjoyed Bride Wars. It is a comedy so a certain amount of suspension of disbelief has to be permitted to really "get it". Interestingly, though, there is a lot more to the movie then the hilarious snippets shown in the trailers. Overall I was quite impressed.

Characterization: This is a comedy so a ton of depth is not really expected. I think that what happens to the characters *as* characters (as opposed to the actual 'bride wars' stuff) is very interesting though. Overall I think that the movie hit on something of real depth in the parallels and contrasts that occur between Liv and her fiance (names are eluding me here!) and Emma and hers. My one big issue with all of this is the "bow tie" scene and what it eventually leads to. While it was a crucial part of the movie's resoluton, I wonder if there might have been a better way to give it more of a connection to the overall story.

Packaging: This is where Bride Wars tripped over its own heels for me. There was no inclusive booklet telling me the scene names (or anything else for that matter) which is something I'd expect when paying $9.99 for a movie -- not $23.99. Further, there was only one featurette and three deleted scenes. While this does not actually impact the movie itself, what it tells me is that the marketing team behind it did not care and did not take the project -- and thus in turn its target audience -- very seriously. Bad form!

Overall: I think that Bride Wars earns 4 stars out of 5 for me.

Haven't heard of Bride Wars? Check out the trailer below!