Review of Bachelorette at Sundance. Kirsten Dunst is plenty raunchy but Bachelorette fails to match the laughs of Bridesmaids.
Thanks to Bridesmaids, the new comic model means actresses like Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher get to act as raunchy as Bradley Cooper and his Hangover boys. Bachelorette writer/director Leslye Headland clearly follows in the footsteps of Kristen Wiig and her fellow Bridesmaids with an outrageous comedy that comes off more like the highly anticipated Bridesmaids sequel than an original comedy in its own right. Sure, Bachelorette, which made its world debut in the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section, is not the first raunchy girl comedy to hit the screens on the heels of Bridesmaids. That title belongs to Bad Teacher starring Cameron Diaz. But Headland’s comedy about a group of bridesmaids at an out-of-control bachelorette party follows the Bridesmaids formula so closely it’s impossible to judge it without instant comparisons to last summer’s popular comedy. Unfortunately there’s only one thing that’s important to know: Bachelorette is nowhere near as funny as Bridesmaids.
Regan (Kirsten Dunst) is a successful New Yorker in all areas but relationships. Her jealousy bubbles to the surface when her less popular and far less pretty high school friend Becky (Rebel Wilson from Bridesmaids) is the first of her close friends to get married. Gal pals Gena (Lizzy Caplan) and Katie (Isla Fisher) are fellow bridesmaids who make matters worse when they accidentally rip Becky’s wedding dress after a bachelorette party that turns out badly.
Comical disasters that rival The Hangover boys await the women of Bachelorette and yet, unlike Bridesmaids or either of the two Hangover movies, there’s not a single belly laugh to be had. The lesson is that raunch; even quality, drug-fueled, no-holds-barred, sex-in-the-bathroom raunch, is not enough when the jokes come off uninspired.
Kirsten Dunst makes a good mean girl who reacts with horror at the thought that her overweight friend is going to get married before her. Still, despite the above-mentioned bathroom sex, Dunst never fully comes alive as the queen bitch of the bunch.
Isla Fisher shows the greatest knack for slapstick but her performance seems like a rip off of her ditzy and far funnier Wedding Crashers character.
Lizzy Caplan rises above the material as the coke-snorting Gena and Rebel Wilson is hilarious as Becky, the good-natured bride nicknamed Pig Face by her so-called friends.
Adam Scott brings some welcome sass as Gena’s ex-boyfriend Clyde but James Marsden is mostly forgettable as his handsome pal Trevor and Kyle Bornheimer fades away completely as their friend Joe.
Headland makes the leap from writing for the short-lived series Terriers to writing and directing a feature film (with the help of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay of Gary Sanchez Productions) but she fails to grasp the comic timing and character development needed to bring her movie alive.
You almost want to feel somewhat sorry for Headland for the poor timing of arriving in the shadow of director Paul Feig's Bridesmaids; especially since Bachelorette is every bit as raunchy, perhaps more so since Regan and her pals snort coke throughout the movie.
Despite all its Sundance hype, Bachelorette lands in the mediocrity heap like another gross-out farce, The Change-Up starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. Good raunch is not enough to make a great comedy and watching Bachelorette makes one appreciate Wiig’s and Annie Mumalo’s Bridesmaids script even more.
Distributor: TBD
Director: Leslye Headland
Screenwriter: Leslye Headland
Cinematographer: Doug Emmett
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, Adam Scott, Kyle Bornheimer
Production Designer: Richard Hoover
Music Supervisor: Michael Wandmacher
Editor: Jeffrey Wold
Running Time: 100 minutes
Producers: Judd Gary Sanchez Productions
Rating: TBD
Release Date: TBD