Bride Hard Parent Guide

World-class secret agent Sam (Rebel Wilson) is taking a break from her perilous profession to be the Maid of Honor for her childhood best friend, Betsy (Anna Camp). During Betsy’s bachelorette party, Sam mysteriously disappears when she’s called away to go on a covert mission. Betsy feels hurt and betrayed by her absence and revokes Sam’s Maid of Honour title which she hands over to Virginia (Anna Chlumsky), the groom’s overbearing sister. Sam is demoted to bridesmaid.

At the conclusion of her mission, Sam’s boss orders her to take two weeks off and attend the wedding, which is being held on a private island in Georgia, owned by the family of the groom Ryan (Sam Huntington). There, the new Maid of Honor does everything she can to exclude Sam from the wedding party. Tensions rise further when Ryan’s best man, Chris (Justin Hartley), starts showing interest in Sam, much to Virginia’s annoyance.

On the day of the wedding, Sam becomes convinced that Betsy is unhappy and shouldn’t be marrying Ryan. When she voices her concerns, Betsy kicks her out of the wedding. That would be enough drama for any wedding, but this ceremony is interrupted when armed mercenaries take the guests hostage. Sam, who escapes the initial ambush due to her removal from the bridal party, must rely on her elite training to stage a rescue. As her identity and efforts are revealed, the wedding party bands together, using their individual strengths to fight back and survive.

The concept, a mash-up of Bridesmaids and Die Hard, sounds promising, but Bride Hard delivers neither the humour nor the heart of either film. It often feels like the sole purpose of the movie is to blow things up and feature Rebel Wilson in an excessive number of fight scenes. Despite a strong cast, the film falls flat, offering little in the way of entertainment or emotional depth. While there are fleeting moments of humour, the story lacks self-awareness and fails to lean into physical comedy, making most action scenes feel repetitive and unconvincing. Overall, the movie comes off like a project created to produce specific scenes, bolstered by a high explosives and stunt double budget, with only a thin plot stretched around the action scenes. Attempts at emotional depth are so forced and awkward that they border on unwatchable. Rather than feeling invested as we watch, it’s hard not to cringe.

While surprisingly tame in language and graphic content for an action comedy, Bride Hard includes just enough adult humor and slapstick violence to earn its Restricted rating. However, it lacks the comedic timing and self-awareness needed to make it memorable. Instead, it comes off as a disjointed mix of explosions, clichés, and missed opportunities.