Movie Review: Bachelorette (2012) Dir. Leslye Headland

"Look at these people. It's like a Jane Austen novel on crack."

Bachelorette by Leslye Headland
Rating 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: Regan is used to being first at everything. Imagine her horror and chagrin when she finds out the girl everyone called Pig Face in high school is going to tie the knot before she does! But Regan sucks it up and takes on bridesmaid duties along with her childhood pals: substance-abusing, promiscuous Gena and ditzy Katie. The single ladies are determined to put their bitterness aside and have an awesomely hedonistic bachelorette party. Armed with acerbic wit and seemingly endless supplies of coke and booze, the foul-mouthed femmes embark on one very long and emotional night filled with major wedding-dress panic, various bodily fluids, and cute ex-boyfriends.

Thoughts: I expected nothing and was beyond pleasantly surprised at finding it to be a funny movie about some mean women. I really liked this movie, to the point where I felt a positive review was required to counteract all of the negativity surrounding.

I heard a lot of talk about Bridesmaids last year but thought it was terribly derivitive with obvious humour and no subtlety, Bachelorette on the other hand really does play like a female centred Hangover but funny and with superb performances, most notably from Ms Dunst. It's dark and chaotic, with just the right amount of sarcasm and most importantly nothing like Bridesmaids.

We play that game from time to time, us film bloggers, the game of dream casting and I think if you were to give me a romantic comedy with an edge as my casting task I might not be able to get past Adam Scott or Lizzy Caplan. Isla Fisher would simply be a massive bonus. The three of them together in this are wonderful, a real pleasure to watch.

The girls are absolutely horrible people that it's easy to dislike at the start of the film but by the end you can't help but like them; they don't change, there's no epiphany, no growth, they're still mean but you see that quality inside them, that reason as to why they're still friends after so many years of being mean.

Of course the word "mean" doesn't cover it but with the star of Mean Girls involved it's an easy word to use. Lizzy Caplan needs to be in more movies, she is beautiful, interesting and funny plus she can pull off the quirky Zooey Deschanel thing without being saccharine sweet to the point of making your head explode.

I think right now I'd watch Adam Scott take a shit for 80 minutes and be full of praise for it but my mancrush du jour hasn't blinded me in this instance, he is actually perfect opposite Lizzy Caplan. The stars of Party Down reunited is big news and their familiarity with working together is a massive plus for Bachelorette, especially in the more dramatic moments that set this film apart from those gross-out wannabes.

Of course this is a comedy and it actually works as one, you know with jokes, witty one liners, absurd behaviour, Isla Fisher in her usual role, physical comedy and honestly the most surprising thing is how funny Kirsten Dunst is. What I'm essentially trying to tell you is that this is worth your time and to forget those negative associations with Bridesmaids and most importantly to find both seasons of Party Down as soon as possible.