The premise might seem familiar: three 30ish high-school classmates — Regan (Kirsten Dunst), Gena (Lizzy Caplan), and Katie (Isla Fisher) — celebrate the impending nuptials of a fourth, Becky (Rebel Wilson). But Leslye Headland's debut quickly subverts expectations with its mordant honesty and its hilarious balancing of sensitivity and scatalogy. Becky, heavyset and unflashy, seems the last person in this contingent to land a beau. Or so her more debauched fellow alumnae think.
>> INTERVIEW: Leslye Headland on the women behaving badly in Bachelorette <<
Resentfully, they spend the night before in a wild Manhattan saturnalia involving cocaine, chaotic sex, vomiting, and a torn dress that sends them into a race-against-the-clock panic. An interlude with the bachelor-party boys sharpens the critique of gender roles, hedonism, and romantic love. Boasting the best ensemble cast of the year, this party doesn't end happily ever after — but for some in this bunch, that might be the happiest ending of all.