A Very Merry Bridesmaid is what happens when Hallmark wants to make a bridezilla movie but doesn’t want to make the bride too controversial. And the bride isn’t even the main character! Hear me out….
Leah (Emily Osment) is turning 30 on Christmas Eve. Her older brother, Paul (Patch May), is also getting married on Christmas Eve. Determined to make sure the wedding is perfect, Leah downplays how important her 30th birthday is to her. But Drew (Casey Deidrick), her childhood crush, insists on celebrating her birthday every day leading up to the wedding. Will Leah’s dreams ever be a reality or will she keep putting everyone else before herself?
Let’s get the bride thing out of the way first. Paul is engaged to Julia (Frances Leigh). Julia wants to have the perfect wedding that she has dreamed of since she was a child. This includes buying a wedding dress from a designer in London and traveling overseas multiple times for fittings. She also wants to get married at the house she grew up in but it was purchased by someone else so she’s settling for Paul’s parents’ house. When the movie begins, Paul and Julia are flying back from London. He had a work conference, she was picking up the wedding dress. For some reason, the airline made Julia check the dress bag then they promptly lost the dress. Julia spends the next half of the movie complaining about not having the perfect dress and refusing all of the “backup” dresses until Leah’s stylist friend suggests an alternative.
As for the house, the sale from the buyers fell through so Paul decided to buy the house without telling Julia. (This isn’t the first movie this season that did this. It is terrible. Stop doing this, Hallmark.) Then Paul makes all of his groomsmen work on the house, including building a gazebo in the middle of winter in a Chicago suburb. On the plus side, when Paul finally tells Julia about the house, she is horrified at first. She eventually gives in and is happy she got her house back but, really, buying houses without talking to your significant other first is awful. Don’t do it. Also, don’t have a wedding in Chicago in December then have the reception OUTSIDE. It is cold. They are lucky no one died.
Oh, and the reason Julia wants these things? Because her deceased mother liked them. The dress was made by her mom’s favorite designer. The house is where Julia grew up with them. They are having the wedding on Christmas Eve because her mother loved Christmas Eve. Julia’s entire personality is “I can’t let go of the past.” Maybe be a little more reasonable and pick things that YOU like.
The worst part is that neither Paul nor Julia are the main characters of A Very Merry Bridesmaid. Leah is! And Leah has a legit gripe here, even though she never complains once about it. Christmas Eve is her birthday. She didn’t have a choice on when she was born. But now her brother is getting married on her birthday. And we don’t see anything about Paul pushing back on Julia for any of her wedding wants. As a matter of fact, Paul says “I would do anything for Julia to make her happy.” There should have maybe been a conversation saying “Could we pick a day that isn’t my sister’s 30th birthday? Maybe we can get married next year instead.”
For what it’s worth, the movie isn’t completely awful. Emily Osment is a joy to watch, even though her character needs to stand up for herself a little more. We do see her grow a little throughout the movie but we still don’t see her defending herself. She just goes outside her comfort zone a bit. Maybe we can get a sequel next year where she is a little more confident.
Is it worth watching? Yeah. It’s not amazing but it is worth a quiet night in. Maybe have a bottle of wine nearby in case Julia gets on your nerves.