Bride Hard tried hard...and failed to raise many laughs

The Advertiser

4 days ago

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.