Director: Nisha Ganatra
There were a few moments early on in this predictable chick flick where I found myself wanting to throttle the usually likable Heather Graham for her Paris Hilton-like character’s “entitled princess” behavior and hyper adolescent party attitude. Then it hit me that she wasn’t playing a Hilton/Duff/Lohan/Spears clone—Heather Graham was playing a Vince Vaughn style Wedding Crasher, an Adam Sandler Billy Madison. In the film, the reason she seems so alienating and infuriating is that Graham is playing a traditionally male role—a man who hates weddings aside from getting drunk and laid, someone who hates relationships that last longer than the initial few trysts that make one weak in the knees, a beatnik-like world traveler with a rich dad who has never worked a day in her life. Once this disconcerting character is identified, Grahams’ usual liability sinks back in and we grow to enjoy watching her adolescent freelance writing Pippa smirk and sabotage the wedding magazine she’s left in charge of running after her icy, magazine magnate father has a cardiac episode. However, there’s a Mr. Right and a Mr. Right Now thrown in for good measure, a possible corporate takeover and some other hurdles tossed in Pippa’s way and while audiences always know just where this cliché ridden film is headed, costars Sarah Chalke, Sandra Oh, and Cheryl Hines have just enough mini-scenes to keep you smiling. It doesn’t hurt when one considers after watching the credits, just how much girl power went into writing, directing and producing the film even if it is pretty juvenile and forgettable.
