Bride Hard Review: Avoid Catching This Bouquet At All Costs

Bride Hard, directed by Simon West and starring Rebel Wilson, aims to be a cheeky fusion of high-octane action and over-the-top bridal comedy, but the final product is neither thrilling nor funny. Clocking in as one of the year’s most baffling cinematic misfires, the film suffers from an incoherent tone, half-baked characters, sluggish pacing, and action that’s as bland as its humor is forced. Despite its star-studded ensemble and seemingly zany premise, Bride Hard is a near-total disaster — an awkward, 103-minute slog that crashes harder than the mercenaries in its plot.

A Premise with Potential… Squandered:

On paper, Bride Hard sounds like a fun send-up of action movie tropes — Die Hard in a wedding gown, laced with Rebel Wilson’s signature brash humor. Wilson plays Sam, a covert agent juggling espionage with bridesmaid duties at her best friend’s destination wedding. When mercenaries storm the lavish affair and hold the guests hostage, Sam must save the day without blowing her cover or ruining the nuptials. The hook is there, sure. But instead of leaning into the absurdity or crafting a tight genre hybrid, the film collapses under its own confused identity.

This is a movie that can’t decide what it wants to be. Is it a biting satire? A female-fronted action romp? A heartfelt rom-com wrapped in explosions? The result is a tonal tug-of-war where no side wins, and the audience is left stranded in a narrative no-man’s-land.

A Lead Performance That Tries Too Hard:

Rebel Wilson, who has proven herself a capable comedic presence in films like Pitch Perfect and Isn’t It Romantic, delivers a performance here that borders on grating. Sam is meant to be a badass with a soft side, but the film gives her neither the sharp dialogue nor the emotional arc to make that duality convincing. Wilson’s attempts at physical comedy are overly telegraphed, her one-liners flat, and her dramatic beats come off as awkward rather than affecting. The movie wants her to be both Ethan Hunt and Annie Walker, but ends up giving us a character who feels more like a bloated sketch parody than a believable heroine.

The surrounding cast, including Anna Camp as bridezilla Betsy, Anna Chlumsky as the grounded voice of reason, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the sassy comic relief, are left to drown in underwritten roles. Camp plays her part with shrill, one-note intensity, Chlumsky is wasted on exposition dumps, and Randolph — so charismatic in other roles — is reduced to reaction shots and limp punchlines.

Even Stephen Dorff and Justin Hartley, both capable of anchoring genre fare, seem confused by the film’s tone. Dorff sleepwalks through his villain role with none of the menace or charm needed to be memorable, while Hartley’s screen presence is squandered on a role so generic it could’ve been filled by a mannequin in a tux.

Action Without Bite:

Given that Simon West directed action films like Con Air and The Expendables 2, one might expect at least a few memorable set pieces. Shockingly, Bride Hard feels more like a cheap TV pilot than a film made by someone with genre pedigree. The action is filmed with no flair, hampered by flat choreography, jarring edits, and a conspicuous lack of tension.

Fight scenes are clumsy and overly reliant on slapstick, as if the film couldn’t commit to whether it wanted to parody action clichés or embrace them. Guns are fired with no impact, punches are thrown with no rhythm, and the entire final act — which should feel like a cathartic crescendo — is a mess of strobe lights, confetti, and incoherent spatial geography. Even the film’s R-rated aspirations (mild language, some blood) feel like window dressing on a fundamentally toothless movie.

Comedy That Misses the Target:

The comedy in Bride Hard is perhaps the most painful part of all. It leans heavily on bridal tropes, outdated “girl power” quips, and groan-worthy puns. The dialogue is drenched in clichés and relies far too much on Wilson’s mugging for the camera, with scenes dragged out long past their expiration point.

The film also makes the mistake of mistaking chaos for comedy — over-the-top bachelorette party antics, drunken confessionals, and bridal gown-related mishaps pile on without building to anything coherent or satisfying. One might expect at least a few zingers or moments of self-aware absurdity, but Bride Hard is so convinced of its own cleverness that it forgets to earn the laughs.

Emotional Beats That Ring Hollow:

Beneath the explosions and bridezilla tantrums, the film wants to tell a story about female friendship — about how people change, how relationships evolve, and how weddings can stir up long-buried insecurities. Unfortunately, none of these themes are developed beyond surface-level sentimentality.

Pacing is another major issue. The movie drags in scenes meant to build character and races through sequences meant to build tension. This inconsistency makes it difficult to invest in either the stakes or the characters.

Overall:

In the pantheon of failed genre mashups, Bride Hard stands near the bottom. It is a film that thinks a punny title and a few bridal gowns can disguise lazy storytelling, limp action, and empty characterization. Whatever potential it had is smothered beneath a script that mistakes loud for funny and generic for clever. Avoid catching this bouquet at all costs.