The Bride!’s Immense Failures Are Fun, Actually

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Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new film, The Bride!, had a disappointing opening weekend, becoming the first Warner Bros. movie to truly fail at the box office since Robert De Niro’s The Alto Knights. It only earned $7.2 million domestically despite costing around $90 million to make, and reviews have been overwhelmingly negative. However, despite being poorly received, The Bride! is a uniquely wild and unpredictable film that really needs to be experienced in a theater – and maybe even seen more than once. Its chaotic energy is part of what makes it interesting.

The film The Bride! offers a feminist twist on the classic “Bride of Frankenstein” tale. Jessie Buckley plays both Mary Shelley’s spirit – frustrated that she was compelled to write Frankenstein from a male perspective due to the societal norms of her time – and a young woman in the 1930s whose body she inhabits. After taking over this woman’s body and killing her, the spirit battles for control when she’s revived by Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) and a female scientist (Annette Bening). The film features musical numbers that suggest the monsters can control people’s minds, forcing them to dance. The Bride evolves into a feminist symbol, protesting against a woman-killing mob boss and unknowingly shouting “Me too!” – a phrase that resonates with modern feminist ideals. A secondary storyline follows Penélope Cruz as an aspiring detective sidelined due to her gender, constantly delivering lines reminiscent of classic film noir. Christian Bale performs with a comedic energy similar to Young Frankenstein, while Peter Sarsgaard adopts a more realistic approach. Jessie Buckley’s performance feels like an unfinished art piece exploring the complexities of women in Victorian literature.

The characters in this film feel completely disconnected from each other, yet the Bride’s unwavering focus is captivating. Everything is committed and full-force, with everyone fully invested in a ridiculous plot, abandoning any sense of dignity. It’s a rare kind of movie – a genuinely innocent and over-the-top spectacle.

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘camp’ lately, especially after revisiting Susan Sontag’s famous essay. It’s amazing how much the term has changed since she first wrote about it! What really struck me is that she believed camp isn’t something creators intend to make—it’s how we as viewers experience things. She said true camp is actually completely sincere, like those Busby Berkeley musicals from the 30s—they weren’t trying to be funny at all! I think the recent film The Bride! really embodies that. It’s so earnest in its attempt to make big statements, but it gets completely lost in the mix of tones – it throws everything at the wall! You’ve got surreal horror, classic musical numbers, a surprisingly forward-thinking feminist character, and a passionate romance all crammed together. It’s not like Margot Robbie playfully embracing absurdity in Wuthering Heights; The Bride! is genuinely trying to be profound, and that’s what makes it so wonderfully camp to me.

It’s surprisingly refreshing to see a truly over-the-top, campy movie these days. Warner Bros. has been successful lately by trusting talented directors, giving them big budgets, and then staying out of their way. This approach sometimes leads to Oscar contenders like Sinners and One Battle After Another, and other times, it gives us pure camp. Over thirty years ago, MGM made a huge investment in the now-infamous Showgirls, a film that initially lost the studio millions. However, it eventually earned back its money through home video sales thanks to its notoriety. Showgirls is now appreciated for its bold ambition. Seeing comedians like John Early, Kate Berlant, and Cole Escola meticulously recreate a scene from the film perfectly demonstrates the art of camp – they find something genuinely enjoyable within its eccentricities.

Ultimately, The Bride! is enjoyable. It’s delightfully over-the-top, especially in how it presents a somewhat shallow version of feminist style, and it clearly had a big budget to pull it off. True ‘camp’ needs both money and creativity, and this movie delivers. Considering Warner Bros. is about to be taken over by David Ellison, who’s known for more traditional tastes, it’s hard to say when we’ll see something this wild in theaters again. Don’t miss it – go see it now!

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2026-03-12 23:56