“Bride Hard” (2025)
“Bride Hard” is one of those movies that kind of goes in one ear and out of the other. It has a few fun moments when you’re in the theater and have nothing else to do, but it will not be long-remembered or become a fan favorite.
I knew the movie was in trouble when, in a group of intro clips in the opening credits meant to showcase the main two characters in their childhood, they included a memorable stock clip of a little girl flirting with an older boy that plays heavily in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” I was quite flabbergasted, to be honest.
Sure, not everyone has an eagle eye like me for romcom moments, and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” is one of my favorites, so I’ve seen it dozens of times and have nearly every moment memorized. But I still think it is downright odd that no one caught that, and in a group of clips meant to spotlight the friendship of the two leads, it also felt out of place.
Rebel Wilson stars in “Bride Hard” as Sam, a spy who’s torn between doing her job and supporting her childhood best friend, Betsy (Anna Camp), as she gets married. Things take a turn when Betsy’s wedding is overtaken by a group of thugs out to raid her fiancé’s family’s vault.
There were a few funny or clever moments here and there, but ultimately, “Bride Hard” is an unfunny action comedy that falls very flat, especially when stacked against other summer action films like “Ballerina” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”
It is also a misuse of almost the entire cast, including Oscar winner Da’vine Joy Randolph, Anna Chlumsky and one of my favorite actresses, Sherry Cola.
The film definitely relies on stereotypes, especially when it comes to the bridesmaids. Lydia (Randolph) is the horny one, Virginia (Chlumsky) is the type A uptight one and Zoe (Gigi Zumbado) is the overwhelmed married one (and here, she is pregnant, which feels like a bonus square on your romcom tropes bingo card).
This now means Wilson is 0/2 for me in 2025 after this and “Juliet and Romeo.” I hope to see her in more movies like “Isn’t It Romantic” and less movies like these two.