Bachelorette (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-x 2 but not for this film
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	83:49
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Leslye Headland
Studio Distributor	Entertainment One	Starring	Kirsten Dunst Rebel Wilson Lizzy Caplan Paul Corning Isla Fisher Andrew Rannells Anna Rose Hopkins
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Andrew Feltenstein John Nau

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, and drug use
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Four high school friends reunite when one of them is getting married. In control power girl Regan (Kirsten Dunst), party animal Gena (Lizzy Caplan) and air head Katie (Isla Fischer) are very surprised that Becky (Rebel Wilson) is marrying the handsome Dale (Hayes McArthur); Becky is the overweight girl the others had teased at school behind her back. Regan takes charge of the wedding arrangements, but on the night before the wedding Regan, Gena and Katie get stoned and rip Becky’s wedding dress. In the course of one night the three try to get the dress fixed. They also crash Dale’s buck’s night in a strip club where Gena reconnects with her old school boyfriend Clyde (Adam Scott), Katie is wooed by the nerdish Joe (Kyle Bornheimer) and Regan meets her match in the intelligent Trevor (James Marsden). Can the girls sort out their personal lives and get the dress repaired in time to save Becky’s wedding the next day?

     Bachelorette was written and directed by Leslye Headland, adopted from her own play. As a film Bachelorette has polarised critics, some seeing it as an edgier and darker version of Bridesmaids (2011), a “comedy with an almost cruel level of honesty that explores not just the weird dynamics of long term friendships but the deeper forces that operate inside each individual” while a contrary view is that Bachelorette is “unpleasant, repellent viewing that, surprisingly, offers repugnant characters and toxic protagonists, nothing more”. The extremes are interesting, but wide of the mark. Bachelorette is not that deep, but nor is it repellent. It is an entertaining, well-made comedy that says something about the “me” generation, friendships; at times it is also quite funny.

     The three principal women characters in Bachelorette are not even close to repugnant; they are certainly self-centred and are representative types, the power girl, the party girl and the bubble head, but they do all have humanity and care for Becky. Kirsten Dunst’s Regan is unpleasant at times, but as her world spirals out of control on the morning of the wedding, with the wedding dress still missing and one bridesmaid comatose in the bathroom, Dunst is quite delightful as she plays it absolutely straight. I think she is better here than she is given credit for. Lizzy Caplan as Gena is also good and has the best character arc as she rekindles her school romance with Clyde. Adam Scott as Clyde is the best of the males in a film where James Marsden is annoying and the others nondescript. But, after all, the focus of the picture is on the women!

     Bachelorette is not a film with pretensions to high art but it is entertaining, well made, quite funny in parts and mostly avoids the “gross out”, cringe-worthy type of humour. Kirsten Dunst is delightful and if some of the plotting is a bit convoluted, and the ending somewhat of a cop-out, I must admit that I enjoyed Bachelorette. In truth, I was a bit surprised by some of the extreme criticism; there are films with far more repugnant characters than those here!

Video

     Bachelorette is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio. The film is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is sharp with nice detail and natural colours, except where they are more glary for the strip club scenes. Skin tones are good, contrast and brightness consistent. Blacks are solid, shadow detail very good. There was occasional slight ghosting with movement but otherwise artefacts were absent.

     The English subtitles for the hearing impaired are in a largish white font.

     A good print, without issues.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Dolby Digital 2.0 at 256 Kbps.

     I listened to the 5.1 audio track, but in truth this is not a film requiring audio fireworks. Dialogue was occasionally a bit hard to understand due to the music coming over too loud in the mix, but there were the subtitles. The surrounds are used mainly for music, and some ambient sound in the club. The sub-woofer supported the score but really had little to do.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The original score by Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau was fine and was supported by a variety of classical music by Haydn, Mozart and J.S. Bach as well as popular music including tracks from The Cars, Goo Goo Dolls and The Proclaimers whose I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) plays a part in the plot. As noted, on occasion the score could obscure the dialogue.

    A low key audio that, except for some of the dialogue, is fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     On start-up the following trailers play and need to be skipped: Seven Psychopaths (2:06) and 2 Days in New York (1:47). They cannot be selected from the menu.

     Otherwise there are no extras.

     There are DVD releases of Bachelorette in Region 2 (Benelux and France) but no UK version as yet. The Region 1 US version is due to be released on 19/3/2013. The technical specifications appear to be the same worldwide, except for some language and subtitle options, and a dts 5.1 audio on the Benelux release. No extras are listed anywhere.

     I enjoyed Bachelorette and I am a bit surprised by some of the extreme criticism. Bachelorette is not a film with pretensions to high art, but it is entertaining, well made, quite funny in parts and mostly avoids the “gross out”, cringe-worthy type of humour. And Kirsten Dunst is good fun.

     The video and audio are fine. There are no relevant extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall