It isn’t that Rebel Wilson lost the ability to be funny.
It’s that someone believes the lead in the film can’t be goofy.
In “Bride Hard,” she’s the one who pitches the set-up while someone else gets to nail the laugh.
That’s a writing problem — one that could easily be corrected.
Early on, she gets the goofy moments. Then we discover she’s a secret agent trying to get out of attending a friend’s wedding. She begs off, then gets pulled in and put to work.
Anna Camp, her “Pitch Perfect” co-star, plays the bride; Wilson is the longtime bestie.
That means she can’t be the maid of honor, so an obsessive “other” friend (nicely played by Anna Chlumsky) steps in and, um, takes over.
She has the weekend planned down to the caprese skewers and doesn’t really want the O.G. maid of honor to interfere. Unfortunately, there’s a crime about to go down at the wedding site and Wilson’s Sam has to make like “Ballerina” and seek and destroy.
While scouting the site (a gorgeous Georgia plantation, complete with a distillery), she encounters the problem, and then it’s just a matter of MacGyvering her circumstances.
Wilson gets a chance to unearth laughs, but there’s a lot that director Simon West might have done to maximize the opportunity. A lot of great comedians (and Oscar-winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph) are frequently left standing at attention while others shoot, slide and transport gold bars.
Stephen Dorff shows up as the baddie (of course) and gets the Coyote end of the fight with Wilson’s Road Runner. Justin Hartley is here, too (presumably as a match for Wilson), but he’s not mined for much more than abs.
The fun comes when Chlumsky thinks she’s losing her hold. Every step of the way, she nervously sizes up the situation and makes adjustments. Wilson is more laid back, avoiding obvious laughs to lean into those action moves.
A slip and slide section could have been plumbed for more, but that doesn’t seem to be what Wilson wants. Even some “Pitch Perfect” reminders could have pulled Camp into the game. Instead, she’s often left at the altar, wringing her bouquet.
Granted, Wilson has morphed as an actress since those early films. But now she doesn’t openly steal scenes, she waits until they come to her. Making her less controlled (and more controlling) could have given “Bride Hard” the edge something like “Bridesmaids” displayed.
Here, it’s “Betsy’s Wedding” with a few mercenaries thrown in.
