‘Bride Hard’: Rebel Wilson Is the Maid of Dishonor in Derivative Action Comedy

Sandra Miska

Many women are asked to be a bridesmaid at least once in their lives, and the call does not always come at the most convenient time, especially if you are a secret agent and the bachelorette party conflicts with your latest mission to take down an evildoer threatening world peace. In Simon West’s subpar “Bride Hard,” this is the case for Sam (Rebel Wilson), a woman leading a double life who is asked to be the maid of honor in the wedding of her childhood friend, Betsy (Anna Camp). After she botches both her secret mission and the bachelorette party in Paris, she is replaced as MOH by Virginia (Anna Chlumsky), the overbearing sister of the groom, Ryan (Sam Huntington). Defeated, she is persuaded by her friend and fellow agent Nadine (Sherry Cola) to still attend the wedding (which is being held at Ryan’s family’s Georgia plantation home) as a bridesmaid. What Sam lacks in poise and tact she makes up for in ass-kicking skills after the wedding comes under attack.

“Bride Hard” opens with a montage of what is supposed to be home videos of Sam and Betsy’s childhood, and there is clearly footage that was previously featured in the end credits of “Bridget Jones’s Diary” edited in. These recycled clips set the tone for the rest of the film, which comes across as if AI generated a film based off of “Bridesmaids,” the Jennifer Lopez comedy “Shotgun Wedding,” better made films by director Simon West (i.e. “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”), and, of course, “Die Hard.” But “Bride Hard,” with its lack of big laughs, janky special effects, and distractingly blatant product placement, does not come close to measuring up to any of those films.

What “Bride Hard” does have going for it is its stellar cast. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who shot this film before she won her Oscar for “The Holdovers,” co-stars as hypersexual fellow bridesmaid Lydia, and she works overtime to breathe life into every scene in which she is featured. Justin Hartley is mildly amusing as Chris, Ryan’s himbo best man who attempts to go head to head with Sam. It turns out he is in cahoots with Kurt (Stephen Dorff), a one-note villain who is after the bricks of gold Ryan and Virginia’s parents inexplicably keep in a vault in their mansion. Veteran character actress Colleen Camp, a co-producer here, is funny but underutilized as Diane, Ryan’s kooky mother.

As for Wilson, she gives a serviceable performance as Sam, relying mostly on her usual schtick. Something that is unintentionally funny is the fact that, despite having grown up with American Betsy, Sam has an Australian accent. But if there is a bright spot at the end of this bumpy ride, it is the strong female friendship between Sam and Betsy, who despite having gone down different paths for so long, have an unbreakable bond when all is said and done. Lame Ryan may be the one taking Betsy to the honeymoon suite, but Sam is her real hero.

“Bride Hard” releases June 20 in theaters nationwide.