Rebel Wilson's new action-comedy film Bride Hard fails at every level
Combining the overarching storylines of Bridesmaids and Die Hard — which, in another universe, could have been good — Bride Hard reads like AI synthesised the scripts of both films and spat out this ill-conceived, half-baked baby.
Fast facts about Bride Hard
What: A failed mashup of Bridesmaids and Die Hard, neither ridiculous enough to be bad in a good way or serious enough to be good in a meaningful way
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Gigi Zumbado, Anna Chlumsky, Justin Hartley, Stephen Dorff
Likely to make you feel: Extremely bored
There's an ostracised maid of honour competing alongside a catty bridesmaid for the affections of a bride. There's the unexpected intrusion of a group of mercenaries. If only there was a defecatory accident and it was Christmas.
Sam (Rebel Wilson) is childhood best friends with Betsy (Wilson's Pitch Perfect co-star Anna Camp, who's so perky she's almost breathless throughout). She's also a secret agent who doesn't accommodate anyone else, leading to cracks in her personal and professional life.
Betsy and her bridal party – Lydia (a perennially sparkling Da'Vine Joy Randolph), Zoe (a sweet Gigi Zumbado) and Virginia (Anna Chlumsky playing the equivalent of Rose Byrne's Bridesmaids character) — shun Sam after she skips out on Betsy's bachelorette to "save the world". She's also excoriated by her team for bulldozing her way through yet another mission. Simply put, Sam is alone.
Placed on the equivalent of gardening leave, Sam resolves to attend Betsy's wedding on a private island estate in Savannah, Georgia and make it up to her. But mercenaries who crash the wedding have other plans — they're after the family gold. Cue Sam to the rescue.
This latest offering from director Simon West — of Con Air fame, no less — could've been immensely watchable if there was anything in the way of a serviceable script, but cliched one-liners abound in Shaina Steinberg's screenplay.
Anyone writing the addendum "that's what he said" in a 2025 script needs to take a good hard look at themselves. Add to that Wilson's delivery of her lines in her trademark one-note staccato and it's hard to elevate the slop.
The film's love interest arrives in the form of family friend Chris, played by This Is Us's Justin Hartley, but here he's stripped of all colour and charisma. Not even a plot twist involving his character can inject a modicum of excitement into the narrative.
A rich family being robbed could've been rousing from an "eat the rich" perspective, but the reasons behind it are so muddied and convoluted it never fulfils this potential.
Nothing about this film works. The plot is razor thin. The tension entirely non-existent. The characters are cloying at best, wooden at worst and the chemistry between them all deeply lacking. The fight scenes are poorly choreographed and barely obscure the use of stunt doubles — but as you'd expect from an action-comedy flick, there are plenty of them. It unfolds in a slow, boring tedium.
Why Holdovers star Da'Vine Joy Randolph deigned to be in it is anyone's guess and though she is the singular best thing about it, it's not enough.
The funniest moment may be Camp deliriously clutching on to Wilson as they speed down an implausible super-powered plastic tube en route to the villains. It's not much, but it's a funny image, which can't be said for the rest of the film.
Bride Hard is in cinemas from July 31.
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
And Just Like That: Huge announcement about SATC reboot's future
And Just Like That … the Sex and the City reboot is wrapping up. The series will come to an end with the two-part finale of the third season, which is currently airing. Ten episodes have been released, and the twelfth will be its last, as showrunner Michael Patrick King confirmed on Friday, US time. The cast – excluding lead star Sarah Jessica Parker, who also serves as an executive producer – was told just one day earlier, according to Deadline. 'And just like that … the ongoing storytelling of the Sex And The City universe is coming to an end,' said King in a message posted to Instagram. 'While I was writing the last episode of And Just Like That … season 3, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop. Along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey, we decided to end the popular series this year with a two-part finale and extended the original series order from 10 episodes to 12. 'SJP and I held off announcing the news until now because we didn't want the word 'final' to overshadow the fun of watching the season. It's with great gratitude we thank all the viewers who have let these characters into their homes and their hearts over these many years.' Following the release of King's statement, Parker took to Instagram with an emotional tribute to the character she's played for almost three decades, sharing a monstage of clips and a lengthy poem. 'Carrie Bradshaw has dominated my professional heartbeat for 27 years. I think I have loved her most of all,' the actress wrote. 'I know others have loved her just as I have. Been frustrated, condemned and rooted for her. The symphony of all those emotions has been the greatest soundtrack and most consequential companion. Therefore the most sentimental and profound gratitude and lifetime of debt. To you all.' Parker went on to describe her work on the reboot as a 'joy, adventure, the greatest kind of hard work', and credited the cast and crew as being 'the most extraordinary talent of 380 that includes all the brilliant actors who joined us.' The sequel to the hugely popular original Sex and the City series, which ran from 1998 until 2004 and later featured two films, premiered in December 2021. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis all reprised their roles in And Just Like That, although Kim Cattrall declined to take part following her widely-publicised feud with Parker. The new series also starred Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker, along with original SATC supporting cast members including Chris Noth (albeit for one episode), David Eigenberg, John Corbett, Mario Cantone and Evan Handler. The first season saw Carrie (Parker) grappling to rebuild her life after the sudden death of her husband and longtime love, Mr. Big (Noth), while Miranda (Nixon) explored her sexuality with non-binary comedian Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) amid the demise of her marriage to Steve (Eigenberg). Season two romantically reunited Carrie with Aidan (Corbett), her ex-boyfriend from the original series, Charlotte (Davis) navigated family challenges, and Miranda moved to LA to be with Che, where things quickly between them quickly fell apart. The current run of episodes has seen NYC-based Carrie and Aidan struggle to stay together as he deals with his son's issues back in Virginia, and as she gets closer to her neighbour, a British author.
The Advertiser
12 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Bride Hard tried hard...and failed to raise many laughs
Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me.
ABC News
13 hours ago
- ABC News
History of Broadway
Greg Jenner is joined in 20th-Century New York by Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins and comedian Desiree Burch to learn about the history of Broadway. Most of us are familiar with at least one Broadway musical, from classics like My Fair Lady and the Sound of Music to new favourites Hamilton and Wicked. In the last couple of decades, high-profile film adaptations of shows like Chicago, Cats and Les Misérables have brought musical theatre to a bigger audience than ever before. But whether or not you know your Rodgers & Hammerstein from your Lloyd Webber, the history of Broadway is perhaps more of a mystery. This episode explores all aspects of musical theatre, from its origins in the early years of the 20th Century, to the 'Golden Age' in the 50s and the rise of the megamusical in the 80s. Along the way, Greg and his guests learn about the racial and class dynamics of Broadway, uncover musical flops and triumphs, and find out exactly what 'cheating out' is.
