This
isn’t quite the first film Andrew
Rannells was in – he has what seems to be a bit role in the first Sex and the City movie, but it’s pre-Mormon, so I’m not including it
here. It’s very early for him, though, a
small but decent enough part in a middling movie.
On the
eve of their former classmate’s wedding, type-A Regan, ditzy Katie, and edgy
Gena have a night of misadventures to remember.
An early mishap at the bachelorette party devolves quickly into mayhem
when the wedding dress gets torn. The
trio’s quest to fix their mistake before anybody finds out takes them down
numerous, chaotic rabbit holes.
It’s a
raunchy comedy in the vein of The
Hangover or Bridesmaids. I’ll admit that I don’t watch many of these
movies and so don’t have a good sense of how it compares to others of its type. My novice opinion, however, is that it’s
decent – not great but serviceable.
There’s a lot of sex and drug use and plenty of crass humor. Some of it, to be expected, feels shocking
for shocking’s sake, while some of it is fairly funny. I like how it plays with old high school
dynamics repeating themselves in adulthood, and it earns definite points for
Gena’s philosophy of dividing guys into “Catalanos” and “Krakows.”
The
acting is the best thing the film has going for it. It’s strong across the board, led by Kirsten
Dunst’s determined Regan and supported by Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher, both
very good as Gena and Katie. The film
also features Rebel Wilson in what I’m guessing is an early U.S. role for her,
and on the guys’ side of things, we have Adam Scott, Hayes McArthur, and James
Marsden playing hard against
type. I’d say the script is mediocre at
best, but the cast makes it work.
Andrew
Rannells plays Manny, a friend and coworker of Katie’s. He’s mainly involved (briefly) in Katie’s
third of the establishing scenes for the three women early on, and he later
shows up (again, briefly) at the bachelorette party itself, doing Katie a solid
by serving as a stripper for the bride.
We don’t
know a whole lot about Manny. We know
that he’s more put-together than Katie and attempts to save face on her behalf
when she mostly-inadvertantly insults customers (they work retail,) but since
he’s only marginally less rude than she is, it has limited effect. We can also presume that he’s gay, thanks to
him yelling, “Let’s see what you’ve got, breeders!” when he starts stripping at
the party. The line surprised and amused
me – since Manny is in the film so little, there’s no real reason to establish
his sexuality, and that seems like a weird thing to let a woman know while
you’re stripping for her, but at the same time, I find it interesting, which means
it ultimately adds to the scene.
Recommend?
In
General
– Possibly, if you’re into these kinds of comedies. I think it’s fine.
Andrew
Rannells
– Not necessarily – his part’s so small.
Of course, if you’d like to see Rannells stripping, there’s that.
Warnings
Lots of
swearing, sexual content (including one guy encouraging another to have sex
with a woman too impaired to consent,) drinking/smoking/drug use, gross-out
humor, and thematic elements (including eating disorders.)
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