Always a Bridesmaid (2000)

hyped garbage

Fresh and Exciting

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This woman and her boyfriend are utterly boring. Couldn't even watch the entire thing. 30 minutes in, and it just blows and blows hard. Who gives a crap, lady? Really, you're jealous of all your friends? You're jealous of all the women you film? If this is your reality--yikes. I wanted her to redeem herself, I wanted to get into this. I saved it so I could watch it by myself, since my boyfriend was not interested. All I can think is--really, you make your money working around weddings. So, if you're so jealous of all of the other brides you videotape and photograph--does that mean that you only want to get married to make your friends jealous? The movie is dull, the documentarian's observations are duller. Lame. Avoid.

This is a well-made documentary but its content was awful. Almost 2 hours of a single young ladies misery about being single. Wallowing in sadness, whining, depressed, questioning everything. No wonder she's single. If I were Nick, I'd be thanking The Lord above that I got away!!! Why would a woman put herself out there for the entire world to see her weak insecurities ? It really doesn't make sense. She suffocates herself with whiney, nagging thoughts and worries. She inundates her close fronds and family with the whining instead of letting go and enjoying the present. Trying too hard is probably the biggest turn off to other people. That and negativity. And desperation. Makes for a sad, miserable life. Another thing I noted watching this documentary is that she is very monotone and has no inflection. Sad.

About 45 minutes into this far-too-long 100-minute film, I kept looking at the screen, wondering why I was still watching people who apparently have modelled their adult lives and language on 'Friends,' that @#$%^&* sitcom-cum-show. Director Nina Davenport and other ditzy, whiny women think getting married, with flowing white gowns and all the usual rituals firmly in place, is the beginning and end of paradise on earth. For me, listening to the excruciating conversations of these women, who talk like acne-ridden 9th graders when they're actually in their late 20s or early 30s, is just too much to take. And I thought MEN were supposed to be shallow.Davenport is a rather sad wedding photographer (ah, coincidence) who thinks that maybe she's never going to get married. Somehow this creaky premise is supposed to translate into a heavy-duty feature-length film. If you think it does, you'll love this stuff. 'Always a Bridesmaid' is really a great to-do about not very much. The second half of the film, where loneliness among older people is examined with sensitivity, is far more interesting than the first, but as a whole I'm not sure how these kinds of docs get financed, made and distributed. Too much is spent on the musings of a woman who thinks it's compelling for us to listen to her inanity ('...but it feels kind of good to wallow in my own sadness'). It gets worse with the flat-out illiterate musings of her boyfriend ('So like, ya know, like, do ya think, like, do ya, like, think, like, that should we, like, do that, like, or like, should we....'). If you love the English language, avoid this flick. Too many deluded filmmakers assume that the quivering masses will be interested in their insufferably middle-class lives, which they somehow equate with high drama. I've been constipated for the last four days. Think I'll make a film about it. It has tremendous dramatic potential.

'Always a Bridesmaid' is the story of Nina Davenport's quest for marriage and the frustrations and disappointments she encounters on the was, as told and filmed by Nina Davenport. At first it looks as if it might be dry and boring, but the narrator's voice and style of story telling quickly catches one's interest. You realize this is a true story and you wonder what is going to happen. What kind of person tells her own tale about failed love and unsuccessful relationships, and on video, interviewing all of her friend's about what they think of her and her attitudes towards relationships? Her neurosis pulls you in.Most of the movie stays pretty interesting, though it begins to drag near the end and you want to tell Nina to stop being dumb and open her eyes. But all in all its an interesting and enjoyable movie.