Bride Wars came out in 2009 and was followed by Bridesmaids in 2011. In Bride Wars, the main characters are lifetime best friends who are planning their weddings together. When there is only one date available to make a dream wedding happen, both Liv and Emma stick to their guns and proceed with planning their weddings separately to take place on that same day.
Bride Wars has two of the most recognizable rom-com faces of all time, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. Bridesmaids has the comedic brilliance of Saturday Night Live stars Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. Bridesmaids doesn't pit two brides against each other on the same date like Bride Wars does, but it leaves two bridesmaids in a fierce competition to make the bride's day special. Which bridal movie is the best?
Bride Wars: Ultimate Rom-Com Besties
As hilarious as Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are, Bride Wars has the benefit of two instant romantic comedy favorites: Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson.
Hathaway's Emma and Hudson's Liv are the best of pals, and their respective romantic relationships don't dominate the story of their dwindling friendship. The wedding date that causes all Liv and Emma's problems is even more engaging because of the rom-com magic the leads bring.
Bridesmaids: Comedic Ensemble Cast
There's nothing wrong with the supporting actors in Bride Wars, but they aren't that important to the plot. Emma and Liv cause a division among their friend group over their shared wedding date, but the friends aren't major players in the story.
Bridesmaids, on the other hand, makes much of its hysterical cast of maids. Wendi McLendon-Covey, Melissa McCarthey, Ellie Kemper, and Rose Byrne add so much laughter and realism to the rambunctious film.
Bride Wars: Luxe New York Setting
Bride Wars takes on a quintessential rom-com setting in New York City. It gets even better than that--Emma and Liv have been best friends since they were young, and their best shared memory is of a wedding they witnessed at The Plaza Hotel.
The fact that the best friends can get a meeting together with a sought-after New York wedding planner shows that these two are in with the in-crowd of city life.
Bridesmaids: Unique Setting Of Milwaukee
As fun as it is to watch movies that are set in New York, there are already a lot of those. Bridesmaids offers a less common setting in Milwaukee.
The movie also includes Chicago and an attempted plane ride to Las Vegas, but it mostly resides in a unique town that isn't shown as often in films or television.
Bride Wars: More Elegant
Since Bride Wars is not as gritty as Bridesmaids, the former film has a more elegant air about it in the early stages of Emma and Liv's wedding planning.
Even once the brides-to-be begin their war, their little pranks are more digestible than some of the mishaps that occur in Bridesmaids. Anyone with a weak stomach might do a little better with Bride Wars.
Bridesmaids: More Down To Earth
Bridesmaids is obviously the less fancy of the two movies. A bride has diarrhea while trying on a wedding dress, and a wedding shower goes haywire due to crazy competition between Annie (Kristen Wiig) and Becca (Ellie Kemper), for example.
Each bridesmaid has a distinct personality, and while a few of the performances border on being caricatures, they all have a sense of realism and relatability to them.
Bride Wars: Living The Dream
Some Bride Wars fans have been watching the movie over and over again since it premiered in 2009. One of the bittersweet aspects of the work is that Emma and Liv both have relatively easy lives in some ways. Emma struggles with missing her parents, but she is also a successful lawyer with a lavish wardrobe and no need to worry about money.
Liv has a much lower salary as a teacher, but she lives comfortably and doesn't appear to go without what she needs. The fact that the main characters' lives are inherently less complicated makes it easier to focus on the struggles of their wedding planning.
Bridesmaids: Realistic Life Hurdles
Other bridal movie fans appreciate Bridesmaids more because not all of its characters lead easy lives. Kristen Wiig's Annie has had her share of personal heartbreaks with relationships and professional disappointments as a baker, and she constantly feels inadequate in Becca's shadow.
Maya Rudolph's Lillian is a relatable woman who, like real-life people, sometimes misses the pain her best friend is going through on her behalf.
Bride Wars: PG Predictability
With a couple of exceptions, Bride Wars is a PG movie at its core. It is one that moms and daughters can watch together, or that young teens and tweens can enjoy at a sleepover.
The movie's ideas of relationships, careers, and marriages are limited, but it is still a safe film for a wider demographic of people to enjoy. Some adults would suggest that Bridesmaids be enjoyed without younger viewers present.
Bridesmaids: Spontaneity Is Refreshing
About midway through Bride Wars, it's clear that Emma and Liv will continually focus on getting back at each other for taking up space on the fated wedding day. Bridesmaids, on the other hand, is slightly less predictable.
While it's obvious that Annie and Becca will always want to outdo each other, the scenarios just get bigger and more unexpected as the movie goes on. From the bachelorette party laughs to the big day itself, spontaneity spices up Bridesmaids. At the end of the day, both Bridesmaids and Bride Wars are great choices that are sure to make viewers laugh.