A good comedic film is much harder to create than a dramatic
one. Jonathan Smith, a 2004 graduate of Yale University’s Film Studies, approached
The Dresser to review his third feature film Batsh*t Bride for which he wrote the script and
directed the film. He states in his press kit, “I wanted simply to make a
bright, fun comedy—a little piece of confection—that makes you laugh.” Yes, he bakes
a cake that made the Dresser laugh.
The story opens in the spring around April Fools’ Day as Heather,
a driven event planner (Meghan Falcone), is making crystal clear that her
wedding will be perfect in every detail. After she tries to reorganize what her
bridesmaids have planned for her, they tell her she has no sense of humor and
is too controlling. So she decides to prove them wrong by pranking her groom
Bryce (Josh Covitt) with the announcement that their relationship has lost its
spark and she is calling off the wedding. To her surprise, Bryce brightens up
and says with great relief that he was thinking the same thing.
The exchange takes place in a restaurant and reminded the
Dresser of the iconic scene in When Harry
Met Sally as Sally fakes an orgasm and a woman (played by Estelle Reiner) at
a neighboring table says, “I’ll have what she’s having.” In Batsh*t Bride, the
argument that then ensues between bride and groom incites other diners to complain
because they don’t want what’s going down between the young couple, except that
Heather, who is full of chutzpah, puts up her hand and won’t allow interruption.
At this point, the Dresser understood what the vulgar film title
meant—mad or crazy and that the filmmaker wasn’t trying to invoke some foreign
language. However, the Dresser had already associated this bride film with the
Israeli movie The Wedding Plan where
the bride asks her groom why he seems so unhappy and he answers because he
realized he didn’t love her. So he backs out and she, an ageing (in her 30’s)
orthodox Jew, decides she will go ahead with the wedding putting her faith in
G-d that He will provide a groom.
While Batsh*t
Bride doesn’t have the depth or the cultural exoticness of The Wedding Plan, when Heather goes to city
hall to get the marriage license, her life of privilege begins to unravel. She bribes
two homeless men to help her, which the clerk, of course, sees through. It’s a wacky scene worthy of Lucille Ball. Shockingly, Heather tries to attack the
clerk, gets arrested, even tased, and thrown into the drunk tank, which is
where, to the Dresser’s taste, the most important and pivotal scene occurs. The
drag queen Pandora, whom her friends invited into their limo on the night of Heather’s
bachelorette party, affirms that Heather
is a bitch, but asks her if she could also be a good person.
Every time Heather decides to tell her father (Patrick
Collins) that the wedding is off, he, Mr. Papadopoulos, surprises her with yet
another family member who has made the arduous trip to be with her on her
wedding day. While this big fat—possibly Greek— parade of relatives was
understandable, it felt overused. However, Meghan Falcone does a great job in
the style of Reese Witherspoon of backing away from each relative that prevents
her from telling her father what the hard truth is.
The clarity of Jason Merrin’s cinemaphotography, the original
bubbly music by Mike Pettry, and the accomplished acting of the entire cast are
first rate. It’s a pleasure to see a young filmmaker undaunted by the obstacles
raised by a worldwide pandemic. As is the Dresser’s custom, she gives the
last word to poetry. John Pauker’s “Screaming Poem” suggests that practice and timing
in art is everything and no where could this be truer than in making a comic
film like Batsh*t Bride.
SCREAMING POEM
In order to make art you have to scream
From time to time.
In order to make art
You have to scream from time to time.
To make
Order in art you have to scream from time
To time.
To order art you have to scream
From art to order and from time to time.
To make art scream you have to order time.
To make art order time you have to scream.
To make time scream you have to order art.
by John Pauker
from In Solitary
and Other Imaginations
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