Bachelorette

Director: Leslye Headland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan
Time Out rating:

Bitchy histrionics curdle faster than a spoiled soy latte in this distinctly unlikable comedy about a trio of coked-up gal pals who barely muster the strength to celebrate their happier friend’s wedding. Playing parts better suited to the periphery of Mean Girls, a trio of dynamic actors do what they can with playwright-director Leslye Headland’s thin, unvariegated material: Regan (Kirsten Dunst) is the seething maid of honor; Katie (Wedding Crashers’ gifted Isla Fisher) is a bobbleheaded sex fiend; and Gena (Lizzy Caplan, most alive when her cell is tossed out a window) is the caustic slacker, still bruised over a high-school rejection.

The first half hour has the scheming zing of a better episode of Gossip Girl (a disastrous prank involving the bride’s dress is shockingly callous); then you realise that Headland has little interest in exploring the obvious desperation at the root of their toxicity. Still, nice guys flock to our heroines, simply because they’re the main characters. Worse, the movie wants to wrap itself in a belated sincerity that celebrates sisterhood and forgiveness – this when no one has really merited it. (An awkward reference to Fast Times at Ridgemont High will rile anyone who recalls that film’s heart.) Not to sound too much like a bratty teen – and these bachelorettes should know better – but, um, why should I care again?

Bachelorette opens nationwide on February 22