In light of a few new bridal comedies coming out soon, including Bridesmaids, which looks like it could be amazing, it’s time to take a look at some of the best and worst the bridal genre has to offer. It seemed better to hone in on films where the bride or marriage is the main focus of the film; otherwise you could throw in a million merely romantic films where a wedding occurs, such as The Graduate or Love Story.

The Bad & The Ugly

Why is it so much easier to show the repulsive side of brides? These next brides are some of the worst brides in existence. These films not only do a disservice to ladies everywhere, they practically convinced an entire generation of women to stay single.

5. Made of Honor

This was one of those films where surely a drunken play on words became an entire pitch which then became an actual movie that we paid good money to go see. What’s the guy’s name? Oh, Patrick Dempsey, right. This fool is some kind of worldly guy who realizes too late that he is in love with his best friend and wants to marry her, but she randomly got engaged to some Scotsman she met, so she asks Patrick Dempsey to be her maid of honor, and the nonsense goes on. This was the last movie Sydney Pollack was ever in … just let that sink in for a minute instead of thinking about the rest of the plot. No one wins in this one, not the audience, not Patrick Dempsey, and certainly not Sydney Pollack.

4. The Wedding Date

A film that makes no sense on just about every level, and can we all just agree to end the practice of Successful Hot Women Who Just Can’t Get A Date?! because it’s beyond ridiculous. The offending bride here is the sister of Debra Messing — no, her character has a name but it’s something spunky like Kate or Eve that I can’t be bothered to look up right now. But throughout the film Messing acts like some sort of deranged termagant who must be nurtured back into the realm of normal human behavior by Dermot Mulroney. This film leaves one with a deep and abiding sense of unease and disgust.

3. 27 Dresses

Definitely makes you sad to be alive, and is yet another entry in the Successful Hot Women Who Just Can’t Get A Date?! box set. The always perky Katherine Heigl has been in 27 weddings as a bridesmaid, but is sure that she’ll get her chance to be a bride soon. Her sister swoops in and starts dating the only guy she’s ever loved, but then James Marsden’s jaw enters the picture and dilemmas more or less evaporate. From the nonsense of paying to be in that many weddings to the pathetic nature of her quest for a man, this movie is just gross.

2. Bride Wars A film so vile and repulsive that even to speak its name is to invite a curse upon your home. Well, maybe not that drastic, but this is a drecky mess. Former besties Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson allow their entire lifelong friendship to evaporate over wanting to have the perfect wedding, so instead of watching one insane bride act like a jerk to everyone she knows, you get to watch two of the world’s worst people go at it like champions.

1. Sex and the City This movie showed us the dark places a bride can go when the wedding becomes more important than the marriage. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) has extravagant expectations that come crashing down as Big manages to deeply disappoint her yet again. Which every single woman in America who has seen one episode of the show could have told her was going to happen. But no, we ignorantly sidled up anyway and got a big steaming two-hour pile of teary dramatic wedding blues. Worst bride ever.

The Good

Believe it or not, there really are a few films where brides and weddings come off well, showing us that women aren’t all crazy about getting married. Though there are far fewer of them, these are the ones that came to mind when I thought about brides who did it perfectly.

5. Runaway Bride

One of the least offensive romantic comedies ever made, with charming subplots and a healthy dose of skepticism about the possibilities of marriage. Julia Roberts plays the gun-shy Maggie Carpenter who has left four men at the altar before sneaky reporter Ike Graham (Richard Gere) steps into the picture. Lots of wedding dresses in this one, and a strangely winsome ultimate message about self-awareness and selflessness in love.

4. Rachel Getting Married

In the mother of all histrionic family dramas that comes crashing out at heightened emotional events, Anne Hathaway turns in a remarkable performance as the deranged sister to Rosemarie DeWitt’s calm bride-to-be who struggle together over the course of a wedding weekend. The fight scenes in the film are rivaled in depth by the expressive and unbelievably touching wedding scenes that take up most of the film. Drawing elements of multiple cultures together effortlessly, the film doesn’t pull any punches, but ultimately leaves you better than it found you.

3. Monsoon Wedding

An arranged traditional Indian marriage that brings together elements of old-world India and the new, more Western India shakes up an entire family and brings to light plenty of drama and family secrets. Directed by Mira Nair, Monsoon Wedding is deeply joyful, incredibly beautiful, Shakespearean in tone at times, unlike anything you’ve ever seen, and one of the finest films about a wedding ever made.

2. Father of the Bride

A father has to come to terms with his daughter’s decision to get married. Either version is totally acceptable: the older one (1951) with Elizabeth Taylor is charming and sweet with irascible old Spencer Tracy as the beleaguered father, and the newer one (1991) with Steve Martin is funnier in some ways and ridiculous in new ones. This is perhaps the one time a remake lives up to the original, and even competes with it for charm and laughs.

1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

When your family wants one thing but you want another, what’s a girl to do? This one is great because Toula (Nia Vardalos) just wants to marry the guy (John Corbett), plain and simple. No weird motives or creepy desires for an enormous “Special Day” — just love. And yet her whole family inserts themselves into the situation and turns it into an overblown extravaganza. This only strengthens the relationship between Nia Vardalos’ and John Corbett’s characters, and the sacrifices they’ve made and the love they have for each other are evident through and through.

Tags: 27 dresses, bride wars, rachel getting married