Waging a war on intelligence

June 6 is the anniversary of D-Day. Fox's comedy BrideWars would have you believe two female best friends would go to war with a ferocity equal to the Normandy landing when their wedding dates both fall on June 6 at New York's Plaza Hotel.

Unfortunately, the skirmishes between the combatants — played with more energy than believability by Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson — never rise to the level of truly outrageous. Nor are any of the schemes the least bit funny.

Glamour not substance

Having two glamorous leads might stir female interest, which could bring mid-level business. After a couple of weeks, though, BrideWars will be heading for divorce court.

By means of a clerical error, which lacks credibility because it comes from the office of the supposed queen of wedding planners, Marion St Claire (Candice Bergen), two friends find themselves with the same wedding date and destination.

Liv (Hudson) is a determined litigator who is used to getting her way. Emma (Hathaway) is an overly nice schoolteacher determined, for once, to have her wedding be “about me''.

The movie, scripted by Greg DePaul and Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael, dives right into the mischief with misplaced glee given the lameness of the conspiracies.

Liv sneaks into a tanning salon to make certain her rival comes out with orange skin.

Then you see Emma sneaking into a hair salon to make certain her rival comes out with blue hair. And so it goes.

What the script doesn't do is dive deep enough into the women's characters to lay the foundation for these sneak attacks.

Ditto that for the poor fiances, who are reduced to dress extras at the weddings.

Fuzzy logic

Why anyone's in love or why the desperation to get married right now is never clear.

Director Gary Winick fails to establish rhythm to the comic mayhem. Situations don't really build throughout the film; they just happen.

And he directs his actresses to play the same level of frustration and rage. These are two very different women, so let them be different.

Missing the comedy

There probably was a smart comedy here about rival nuptials.

Lord knows, Hollywood has made enough movies about weddings that, clearly, everything about the madness leading up to such D-Days has the makings of fun.

But BrideWars never gets off its high-concept stool long enough to explore what makes weddings so exciting and nerve-racking and treacherous. It flounders instead in juvenilia.

Hathaway comes off best, if only because nothing in the script makes Hudson's character the least bit sympathetic.

Bundle of contradictions

The two manage to suggest a strong female bond, enough so as to undermine the movie's basic premise.

Bergen tackles the wedding planner as an interesting combination of Park Avenue matron and relentless drill sergeant.

Kristen Johnston plays a maid of honour that might have been amusing if it weren't so one-note.

Bryan Greenberg as Liv's fiance, Chris Pratt as Emma's and Steve Howey as Liv's eligible bachelor brother struggle to differentiate themselves from that tuxedoed figure atop the wedding cake.