Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Book of Rannells: Bachelorette (2012, R)


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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