Review #28: Bachelorette

Release Date: May 28, 2013
Writer: Leslye Headland
Director: Leslye Headland

Logline: Three friends are asked to be bridesmaids at a wedding of a woman they used to ridicule back in high school. (Source: IMDb)
Bechdel Test: Passed all 3 tests

Review

This movie has a special place in my heart because I credit it as one of the movies that revolutionized the way I think about women in film.  All three of the main characters in this film are unlikeable, deeply flawed and unbelievably selfish. The result is a dark and edgy but hilarious look at female friendships that exist solely due to shared history.

This movie came out when everyone was still riding the girl power high of Bridesmaids (a movie that I also love). Unfortunately, Bachelorette was repeatedly compared to Bridesmaids even though its tone and message are wildly different.  This unfair comparison is part of the reason the film is often overlooked.

Bachelorette’s vulgarity is rooted in honesty and every shocking line is justified through its speaker’s character development throughout the film.  We get a very multilayered look at what these girls are like and that insight makes the dialogue authentic and powerful.

The performances are all great, it's as if the parts were written for each actor.  Lizzy Caplan is sarcastic and ultra negative, Isla Fisher is ditzy beyond and Kirsten Dunst is terrifyingly controlling. Rebel Wilson's role is smaller but she is also wonderful as the bride whose wedding is what brings them together.

The girls' reunion is disrupted when the bride's dress gets ripped the night before the ceremony. What follows is a drug-infused all nighter of trying to fix the dress as well as the past mistakes that continue to haunt them.

Although the plot moves along quickly, the story remains grounded even as the girls’ night spins more and more out of control.  This is a film that aims to get to know each character – as their situation become increasingly unstable, their true identities become apparent.  The chaos is simply a vehicle to get to an understanding of what makes each girl tick.

The characters are despicable, the plot is chaotic and the dialogue is raw but these aspects combined produce an entertaining film with a refreshing ring of honesty.

Portrayal of Women: As previously mentioned, the three main women are not likeable. They are incredibly selfish, rude and downright mean. This is borderline revolutionary because roles like this are generally reserved for men.

It's a lot harder for audiences to accept a mean woman that it is a mean man - but in real life, women are sometimes mean. We aren't meant to like these characters, we're meant to find them interesting and try to understand where that selfishness comes from - the same way we try to empathize with Don Draper or Walter White.

Headland does a fantastic job in giving each character a backstory that explains their present behaviour. As we begin to understand them, we also begin to empathize them. We may not like them any more but we root for them anyways.  It's nice to see women get these complex roles that allow them to have much more depth than the average female character gets.

A lot of the humour stems from the bad behaviour. From Regan exploiting her experience working with sick kids so she has a good story to Gena and Katie completely ruining the rehearsal dinner, each mess up results in a perfect moment of hilarity. We love that the girls get to be the anti-heroes and they get to bring in the laughs too.

Sisterhood Moment: The scene where the girls reunite before the wedding is so full of energy and pure joy.  There's nothing as good as hugging your bestie after being apart for a long time.

Rating: 4 wedding dresses you've dreamt of since you were a little girl

IMDb - Bachelorette (5.3)
Wikipedia - Bachelorette
Rotten Tomatoes - Bachelorette (56%)