Bachelorette

Bachelorette starts off sour but gets sweeter as it goes. The main characters are mean-spirited, unhappy, and bitter. They were all best friends in high school but have grown up (sort of) to become the kind of people you might be glad to have left behind after graduation. It's not entirely clear what keeps them together besides plenty of history -- and that's a shame, since they aren't especially friendly to one another, nor to anyone else. But as the manic evening progresses, we learn more about what shaped them, humanizing them almost enough.

Dunst is especially great as an unlikable control freak who excels at micromanaging every detail of the wedding event while alienating everyone around her, and Caplan stands out as the damaged girl who still can't get over her high school boyfriend (Adam Scott). Bachelorette belongs in the same category of raunchy adult comedies as The Hangover and Bridesmaids, and while it's plenty funny, it's also perhaps the one film in the bunch that also seems realistic. (The real-life tinge of bitterness is also what makes it not quite as funny as the other two films.) These characters, who seem so unpleasant at first, eventually all become people you might really know. But you still might not like them. And therein lies the rub.