Writer: Ng Suzhen

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Watch this if you liked: “Bridesmaids” and “Friends With Kids”

"Bachelorette" spirals downward the moment Regan's (Kirsten Dunst) self-centering babble hits the screen in the opening. Immediately unlikable, you wonder what Dunst is doing starring in this "Bridesmaids" wannabe. The same question extends to James Marsden, who plays Trevor, the best man to bridegroom, Dale (Hayes MacArthur).

Even Rebel Wilson, who usually shines as the big girl with the even larger personality, fails to add humour to this disappointment of a comedy. Playing Becky, who is about to get married to catch-of-a-lifetime Dale, Wilson's character is mellowed and sporting an American accent, which might explain the lessened appeal to her. There are moments you notice her accent slipping back to an English one a few words at a time and you wonder if maybe her acting is distracted by trying to keep the pronunciations in line. It is refreshing that she finally picks up a role that strays from her stereotype but Wilson falls short at portraying Becky with good effect.

Bringing back her old gang together as bridesmaids, Becky appoints Regan as her maid-of-honour who reunites with the foul-mouthed Gena (Lizzy Caplan), who has another agenda for attending the wedding, and the over-the-top ditzy Katie (Isla Fisher). The four friends may be portrayed as being a tight-knitted group during their high school days, but whatever camaraderie they shared when they were younger does not translate to their reunion. At best, they seem like four acquaintances that happen to be spending time with each other.

Of course, there is the customary wedding disaster that sparks the plot in a comedy such as this. In the case of "Bachelorettes", the bridesmaids ruin the wedding dress while getting high on drugs. What follows is a mad dash to save the dress while dealing with their personal problems.

Overachiever Regan is secretly seething from the fact that fat Becky is getting her dream marriage to a well-to-do good-looking guy while she is still left hanging as a potential spinster. Gena wants to terrorize ex-boyfriend Clyde while Katie is just plain clueless throughout the whole movie.

The male leads do not really help out at all with the movie. Trevor just plain annoys as the typecasted jerk who only aims to sleep with the opposite sex, the more challenging the better. In this case, he sets his eyes on Regan. Clyde (Adam Scott) on the other hand, just glides along uninterestingly around the guys as just an excuse to have a love interest for Gena.

"Bachelorettes" is a forgettable film. Unless you are into watching girls sprouting profanity and delivering crude jokes, maybe you should forget about this film.

Cinema Online, 21 December 2012