Magenta Light Studios
It’s hard to believe that it’s going on 40 years since Die Hard came out.
It’s even harder to believe that completely unassociated filmmakers are still releasing variations on the theme.
At hand, for instance, we have Bride Hard, with more producers than I have ever seen before for one film. There are a total of 40 listed producers, associate producers, and executive producers!
One of those producers is actress Colleen Camp, a woman whose fascinating career includes appearing as Bruce Lee’s girlfriend in 1979’s Game of Death, even though she never met Bruce Lee, who died in 1973.
Ms. Camp even appears in this picture in a delightful turn as the mother of the groom.
And delightful is the word for this movie. It’s a comic book movie, in which a fancy wedding on a Georgia island is invaded by terrorists, but they don’t realize the just ostracized ex-Maid of Honor is a highly trained government operative.
I suppose it’s part of the humor that the woman with all the moves and the skills is played by short, plus-sized actress Rebel Wilson. It’s probably also not coincidental that one of her first big roles in movies came in 2011’s Bridesmaids—no relation. (I note that Ms. Wilson’s spouse also has a small role in this film).
Like Bruce Willis’s John McClane, Rebel’s Sam is charismatic and inventive, sneaky, snarky, and unrelenting. Unlike McClane, she ends up not having to do it completely on her own.
Also, unlike the Die Hard movies, which are serious action flicks with humor, Bride Hard is a non-stop comedy with unrealistic, over-the-top cartoon action. There’s blood, but not a lot. There’s explosions, but often for laughs. There’s also an underscoring theme of female bonding and empowerment.
Stephen Dorff, an actor I haven’t really paid much attention to since the ‘90s, is perfectly scruffy and smart as the head bad guy. Their motive is to rob the groom’s estate where the wedding is being held of a big ol’ bunch of gold ingots stacked in a secret vault, but that’s really just a McGuffin. There’s also someone in the wedding party who wants something else from that vault.
Anna Camp, whom I first saw on True Blood (and who co-starred with Wilson in the Pitch Perfect movies), is a flat-out hoot as the frustrated bride! She reminds me very much here of the grown-up Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on TV’s Bewitched.
Speaking of former child actresses, also in the cast here is Anna Chlumsky, as the groom’s sister, jealous of Sam’s lifelong friendship with her brother’s soon-to-be bride. The only other actress I recognized in the cast was Da’Vine Joy Randolph, whom I’ve enjoyed in several films and TV series over the past few years. I didn’t care for her character in this one, though. She just came across as somewhat obnoxious.
After the expected and necessary scenes of carnage as the aggressors slowly become the victims, I don’t think I’m giving anything away to say that Bride Hard works its way to a happy ending with a punchline. It’s even followed by some bloopers as the cast is introduced in the typically long-running closing credits.
Now that I’ve written this review, I just took a look to see what others thought of it and it seems like the movie has been almost universally panned! I don’t get that at all.
As I said, it’s a comic book, a cartoon. It’s big and colorful, likable badass heroines, hissable villains, and hardly a serious line in the whole picture. I, for one, quite enjoyed Bride Hard, and I think you will, too!
Booksteve recommends.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login