Bride Hard
A movie review by Alex First
For a maid of honour, Sam (Rebel Wilson) makes a formidable secret agent.
Let me explain.
Sam has been best friends with the bride-to-be, Betsy (Anna Camp), since childhood.
Now Sam, Betsy and bridesmaids Lydia (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Zoe (Gigi Zumbado), along with the bride’s future sister-in-law, Virginia (Anna Chlumsky), are celebrating Betsy’s hens night in Paris.
The problem is that no one told Sam that her latest mission, which is happening in close proximity, has been moved forward and now coincides with the party.
So, Sam, who is already in the bad books for having missed many significant milestones in Betsy’s life, has to try to navigate the two.
In short, she doesn’t do a good job.
In the process, she ostracises Betsy and the other girls, while her flagrant disregard for instructions results in the same with her spy colleagues.
So, Sam is told to take a break from her job, which gives her enough time to attend Betsy’s nuptials, at Sam’s handler Nadine’s (Sherry Cola) urging.
It is an affluent affair on a private island in Savannah, Georgia.
But what couldn’t be foreseen is that mercenaries with links to a drug cartel, led by Kurt (Stephen Dorff), have targeted the rich owners of the estate.
While none of the girls, including Betsy, know Sam’s real calling in life, it is left to Sam to save the day and rescue her reputation.
Along the way, she also attracts the eye of the groom’s hunky best man, Chris (Justin Hartley).
Based on a pretty lame screenplay by Shaina Steinberg, Bride Hard is played strictly for laughs.
In the hands of director Simon West (Con Air), some land more effectively than others.
Still, there are few, if any, that are better at delivering one-liners (that can be risqué) and sight gags than Rebel Wilson.
Seeing her as a kick ass hero is a stretch, but with a stunt double, she manages to carry it off.
The other standout is Da’Vine Joy Randolph (who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Holdovers) in realising the recalcitrant, larger-than-life Lydia.
The set-up is rather pedestrian and quite excruciating to watch. Fortunately, it improves somewhat, although it is mighty silly all the way through.
This is the stuff of popcorn fantasy, where girl power shines and men are meat heads.
There is nothing deep and meaningful here, just the occasional guffaw at the preposterousness of it all.
Rated M, it scores a 5½ out of 10.
