Bride Wars

Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson head the cast of director Gary Winick's comedy about brides behaving badly. Teacher Emma (Hathaway) and lawyer Liv (Hudson) are best pals who share everything, until a mix-up causes their respective weddings to be booked for the same date at their dream venue - New York's Plaza Hotel. With neither woman willing to budge, the claws come out and anyone and anything is fair game. Hathaway and Hudson make convincing friends, but despite the actresses' natural charms there's a lack of credibility to their bitchy antics. Winick (13 Going on 30) makes their spats seem about as compelling as a game of pat-a-cake, with Hathaway's most dastardly ploy involving sending gifts of expensive chocolate so that her rival won't fit into her bridal gown. The result is a watered-down comedy that puts the accent on saccharine sentiment rather than full-on belly laughs, with Candice Bergen sadly underused as a sharp-tongued wedding planner.