You May Now Kill The Bride

This is one of those movies where the story progresses in a captivating way because you have two characters at the opposite extremes: one sensible good-hearted protagonist and one loony who is good at keeping it together for her stepbrother and his fiance, while we and the protagonist's best friend realize she is crazy.

Character Development/Writing Quality: Great character development with MC Nicole who doubts her best friend Celine's suspicions about Audrey's intentions but then later must contend with her fiance's own doubts when she realizes Celine was right. Nicole goes from trusting in her future stepsister Audrey to quickly doing what she can to expose her true motives, wising up as fast as a cold sobering alcoholic. Though she plays a smaller part, Celine's transformation is also well done, shown very believably after having to deal directly with an insane move by Audrey.

The story line plays out nicely. Relationships are woven together tightly and convincingly, for the most part. There is a scene where Audrey has impossible strength and it was hard to believe that Nicole's fiance, Mark, failed to introduce Audrey to Nicole as they have been together for years, or explain to her that she has mental problems. And, the end, while good and conclusive, forgets to acknowledge how Audrey is able to be at the wedding (without giving too much away).

Values: The value of friendship and of securing the bond between an engaged couple.

Content (sex, language, & violence): No sex. One or two uses of 'bitch', and minimal violence. The opening hook is short and violent and there are two scenes throughout involving more intensity than violence.

Scare factor/suspense: The scare factor lies within Audrey's increasingly unstable mindset and the growing knowledge that she has been behind a lot of her stepbrother's failed relationships. But we spend more time with the couple or Nicole, so the scare factor isn't strong.

What was upsetting was how Mark trusted Audrey over his own bride-to-be, dismissing her concerns about Audrey's strange behavior (especially since later we learn from him that she is unstable). There has to be tension, sure, but the plausibility of him dismissing her concerns was upsetting to the viewer and also unbelievable. The best part of the movie is Ashley Newbrough (Nicole). She is believable, sweet, likeable, and smart, and fills the scenes with a strong presence that has us rooting for her all the way to the end.

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