Bride Wars

How sad when you are part of an enthusiastic audience which is willing to laugh at lame jokes and even forgive some pretty bad dialogue. Unfortunately, by the time this movie was over we were completely out of patience and found ourselves clutching at straws: "There were a couple of funny one-liners..."

Never having been a fan of Kate Hudson (won Critics' Choice Award for "Almost Famous" and lots of second-rate romantic comedies, e.g., "Fool's Gold" and "Raising Helen"), I completely bought into her avaricious attorney character, who plays uncomfortably mean jokes on her former best friend, simply because the two of them had the misfortune to be scheduled to share the same date for their dream weddings at New York's Plaza Hotel. The culprit is a much sought-after wedding planner, played to smarmy perfection by Candice Bergen ("Miss Congeniality" and "Sweet Home, Alabama").

The aforementioned best friend, played by Anne Hathaway ("Get Smart" and "Rachel's Wedding") is finally forced to develop claws of her own, matching dirty trick with dirty trick as the battle deteriorates into a cat fight none of us wanted to watch. Hathaway has grown up on screen and, in my opinion, is doing an admirable job of it. She has segued from Disney's "Princess Diaries" to recent outings in notoriously adult fare ("Brokeback Mountain"). She has huge brown eyes, long legs, considerable acting skills and is willing to take risks. That said, this pathetic movie was too big a risk, even for her...

There was a recent movie featuring a man who played cruel and juvenile tricks on an undeserving victim ("Made of Honor"). When it was over, we ended up with no one to root for. This movie is uncomfortably similar.