Netflix Summary:
When a single overachiever learns, to her horror, that an overweight girl she teased in high school is getting married before her, she swallows her pride and serves as maid of honor, enlisting her old clique to help through an evening of mishaps.
FYA Summary:
Imagine three of the most heinous people you knew in high school. Now picture them 10 years later, bitter and disappointed with where their lives did (or didn’t) end up going. Invite them to your wedding as bridesmaids. And give them a bunch of coke. Pretty much the worst idea ever, yeah? But a pretty good setup for a movie about some really fucked up and terrible people.
Familiar Faces:
Kirsten Dunst as Regan
Kirsten plays an perfectionist whose life hasn’t quite panned out like she’d expected. She feels strongly that she’s the one who “deserves” to be getting married. And this isn’t the delightful, bubbly Kiki I’m used to from her teen movie years. She is pretty much the queen bitch of her crew and it’s not a stretch when another character refers to her as “Hannibal.”
Rebel Wilson as Becky
Rebel Wilson plays Becky, who was the girl’s fat friend and resident toadie during high school. Now she’s got a great fiance and is the one who has really got her shit together. Unfortunately, this character doesn’t really leave room for the normal hilarity and flair we’ve come to expect from Rebel in movies.
Lizzy Caplan as Gena and Adam Scott as Clyde
Party Down fans will be delighted to see Lizzy and Adam reunite in this movie. And then promptly be disappointed because their characters are awful people.
Andrew Rannells as Manny and Isla Fisher as Katie
Isla plays Katie, who is the financially unstable, ditsy partygirl. Andrew doesn’t really have a large role, but he plays Katie’s co-worker/an amateur stripper and is pretty much delightful as he is in every role he plays.
James Marsden as Trevor
James plays an unrepentant and repulsive douchesaurus/misogynist. (And this isn’t some Hangover type shit where he’s one of the “heroes.” The audience is clearly meant to find him repulsive.) Which is kind of wonderful after seeing him play the perfect nice guy who gets dumped for someone else over and over.
Couch-Sharing Capability: Medium
This definitely isn’t a party movie, but a good fit for a small group of friends.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Low
Watching these characters is going to make you want to stay away from any and all mind altering substances.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Hit or Miss
This is definitely the kind of movie that is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Personally, I enjoyed it because every once and awhile I’m interested in seeing some pretty irredeemable female characters. And this movie really shows the ugly side of the power dynamics that can exist in female relationships (especially those that date back to high school.) Chances are, if you liked Diablo Cody’s Young Adult, then you’ll get a kick out of this one too.
