Bride Wars
(2008/Fox Blu-ray w/Bonus DVD & Digital Copy)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
There is
no doubt that Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are two of the sexiest, most
appealing comic actresses alive and of their generation, but why do most of the
projects they turn up in seem like TV movies?
Gary Winick’s Bride Wars
(2008) seems to think that pairing them together would make up for a weak
script and obvious (as well as condescending) ideas are somehow funnier and not
cliché with the two of them to “distract” the audience. Unfortunately, the film gives weddings, women
and voice-overs all a bad name.
They play
friends who have been so since childhood, including a dumb obligatory flashback
scene that is a bad sign of how bad this will be. Then it gets worse and worse, the characters
more juvenile and by the end, one only hopes both leads got big paychecks for
wasting their time and ours. The conflict
happens when they book their wedding for the same day in what is an idiot plot
device from the worst of TV sitcoms.
Unfortunately, this lasts 89 minutes instead of under a half-hour, the
latter of which refers to the “richness” of the screenplay. This film is grounds for a divorce from bad
cinema and bad comedy. Can we get an annulment?
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 AVC @ 27 MBPS digital High Definition image weak, problematic, has
detail issues, shadow detail issues, color limits, motion blur and is not the
most pleasant Blu-ray we have seen of late.
The anamorphically enhanced DVD included is much worse with awful Black
and all the problems amplified. The
DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1mix is mostly dialogue-based and rarely do
the surrounds kick in, but did the sound have to me so much towards the front
channels? The Dolby Digital 5.1 in both
cases is worse and much weaker still.
Extras
include the bonus DVD, DVD-ROM Digital Copy disc for PC and PC portable
devices, trivia track, two Fox Movie Channel promo programs for the film, three
featurettes, improvisations and deleted scenes of little consequence.
- Nicholas Sheffo
