Bachelorette – Fine Performances in a Less Than Satisfactory Picture

** 1/2* out of *****

Running time: 91 minutes

MPAA rating: R (for sexual content, pervasive language and drug use)

Bachelorette comes very close to being meaningful, and almost succeeds at being funny. It offers the challenge of several nuanced performances by some of our best young actresses and actors, and nearly manages to combine the disgusting fun and bonding experiences of The Hangover and Bridesmaids with the more sincere relationship dramas of Jennifer Westfeldt, such as Friends with Kids and Kissing Jessica Stein.

Ultimately, Bachelorette is more interesting that it is involving. It never seems sure of what it is trying to be. Is it meant as a goof? Not quite, because it has far too many layers of psychological trauma built into the plot. Is it supposed to be a thoughtful examination of the challenges of maintaining lifelong friendships? Can't be, as it dodges or glosses over too many of the issues it might have confronted.

The script by Leslye Headland (who also directed) is seriously underbaked. It could have used several more drafts to achieve better character development and a more cohesive plot.

But there's no denying that the picture features a gaggle of memorable performances. Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan and Rebel Wilson appear as four friends who have maintained their high school friendship thorugh 13 subsequent years of challenges. They are brought together to celebrate Wilson's impending marriage, and are joined there by a male posse made up of James Marsden, Adam Scott, Hayes MacArthur and Kyle Bornheimer.

Apart from Wilson, who is on the verge of marriage, the other three women seem to have wasted their lives through every fault of their own. None have outgrown their adolescence. All overindulge in drink, drugs, sex and ego-deflation, which finds them unable to celebrate their friend's good fortune except in the most mean-spirited style imaginable.

Far from a frothy confection, this picture offers its heroines forced to operate from within a morass of drug-hazed bitterness and self-loathing.