Friday, April 19, 2013

On DVD/Blu-ray: BACHELORETTE -- the VOD surprise is suddenly everywhere

For those of you who were a tad underwhelmed by Bridesmaids -- not very funny, not very good, but obvious as hell -- here's the movie on a similar subject that actually delivers. BACHELORETTE explores young women's feelings about other women: their friends and their not-really friends, and in so doing offers up a lot of frisky fun. With a stand-out performance from Kirsten Dunst and some very good ones from Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Scott, James Marsdenan especially good one from Kyle Bornheimer and another nice turn from Rebel Wilson, the movie keeps firing on all four cylinders (yes, it is a relatively low-budget affair) as it beats some fancier models all to heck.

What's especially surprising about this film is how it begins as a crass but funny comedy-of-insult and manages to slowly make its way into a legitimately feel-good film about what weddings actually mean and, yes, why they're still (sort of) important. Written and directed by Leslye Headland (shown at right) from her original play, the movie has been cast extremely well, with the ensemble delivering the goods in literally every scene, so that the movement from nasty to nice works better than you could imagine.

The actresses (above) do a great job of delineating their character with both broad and later more subtle strokes, while the guys (below) are along for the ride as merely pleasant appendages (for a change), but they, too, come through just fine.

After a surprisingly good debut via VOD, and then a not-bad theatrical playoff, the movie -- from Radius-TWC and Anchor Bay Entertainment is suddenly everywhere now that the DVD and Blu-ray are out and about. You can find the film in any of the above formats, plus it's also streaming on Netflix. So you've really no excuse for not giving these Bachelorettes and their boys a whirl....

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