Bride Wars

And thus begins 2009...

I haven't yet finished with the 2008 movies---not only the ones I missed during their run, but the ones that are still in theaters. There are a few left of the latter type to cross off my list, including a few that premiered in December but didn't go into wide release until after the New Year (Defiance and Last Chance Harvey). This a trick that allows them to compete for the 2008 awards while surfing the buzz of their release at the last possible moment. Sort of cheating, if you ask me.

Today, however, I wasn't in the mood for either of those. Instead I felt like crossing off my very first genuine Copyright 2009 movie. The trickle of '09 movies started last week, and accelerated with five new releases this week. Today I figured I better get moving, so I drove over to Leominster today---on a very chilly afternoon---with an open mind about which film I would see.

The theater hadn't yet opened their box office, and I had to stand in line with twenty other people for about ten minutes in the cold. I made a note never to come early to the first weekend showing at Leominster anymore. I swear they were toying with us, the way they kept almost pantomiming opening the cash drawer on several occasions.

By the time I got to the front, I had settled on Bride Wars. It came out last week and got horrible reviews, so I figured it might be gone soon. Besides it seemed to be the kind of lightweight movie that would be good for an early Saturday afternoon.

Leominster had already stuck it in their tiniest of auditoriums, which nevertheless filled up quite well. For a while I thought I would be the only adult male in attendance, but several couples wandered in during the previews.

It seems nobody likes this movie, even Anne Hathaway, who refused to do talk show appearances about it, for fear that it might put people off from her performance in Rachel Getting Married in the lead-up to the Oscar nominations.

Nobody liked it...except, well, yours truly.

In the first scene of the movie, we meet the two principals (Hathaway and Kate Hudson) as young girls. They are in the attic of one of their houses, dressed as bride and groom and fantasizing about their future weddings. One of the girls (the brunette future Hathaway) is dressed as the groom, whereas the other (the blonde future Hudson) is the bride.

For the story to be fully successful, this initial portrayal of them must be significant as a foreshadowing of what will happen later. Having noticed this from the trailer, I spent much of the movie calculating how this initial shot prefigures what will happen later in the story.

In fact this set-up is a nice framing of how the story indeed develops, both on a thematic level, and on narrative level during the action of the climax.

Thematically, Hathaway's character starts off as meek and submissive. She must learn the "masculine" side of personality---to be assertive and go after the things she really wants. Hudson's character starts off as hyper-assertive. She must learn to connect with the feminine softer side of her personality.

If you've seen the trailer, you know that the story conflict arises when both women, who grow up as best friends, wind up booking their weddings (by accident) on the same date and at the same time at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Neither will back down, and their friendship turns to rancor and all-out warfare.

Since this is a light-hearted comedy, and not a black comedy, for the movie to work, the story must be resolved and the friends must get back together. How will they be able to do this? I thought the original concept of the movie was well handled in this regard, through a skillful application of believable levels of misapprehension.

As far as the weddings, we know that eventually both women will wind up married somehow. But as far as the specific original date, there are obviously three possible resolutions: both will get married, only one will get married, or neither will get married. The particular resolution of the movie turns out to be quite in line with the original shot of them as young girls. Is that too much of a spoiler?

There is a lot of good old fashioned plot-stitching in the movie that I liked, down to the fact that Anne Hathaway picks up the wrong Chinese fortune cookie at a fateful moment. The script was well-crafted on a subtle level.

The most postmodern aspect of the movie was its complete denial of the permanence of marriage. The movie seemed to embrace the idea that whereas husbands come and go, your girlfriends are for life.

There is nothing particularly deep about this movie. It was perfect for a January afternoon. I've heard this movie described as anti-feminist. I guess everyone has to have a complaint.