BRIDESMAIDS
directed by Paul Feig
produced by Judd Apatow
written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
MOVIE REVIEW BY CYNTHIA RODRIGUEZ
I first fell for Kristen Wiig when she played the kick ass roller derby team captain of the Austin, Texas Hurl Scouts, who also had a soft side being the only Mom on the team,
#99 MAGGIE MAYHEM. The one who said, "Be your own hero." I've never been a big SNL fan, so before that, I didn't really notice her, but I remember watching "WHIP IT" and thinking, "Who's that hot grrl that looks like Jennifer Aniston?"
So, I'm usually not a "going to the movies to see a comedy" kind of person. I'm always afraid they are gonna suck, and that I spent twenty bucks on a bag of popcorn alone for nothing. Especially when I consider it to be a "chick-flick". It's usually ONLY when my "date" insists on seeing one, or when I do the group grrly thing and we do dinner and a movie that most likely has something to do with "Sex And The City". I prefer my action/big epic drama/horror film/super hero movie you should see on IMAX kind of films. Everything else can wait until Netflix.
This time I made an exception. I was feeling very chill and laid back this week, and the middle of the week movie night was a spontaneous, rare occurance for me. I'm glad I did that, because it was actually funny as hell.
I think this may possibly be my first "Judd Apatow" experience, even though he did not necessarily write this one, just produced it. And it was without the usual "SLACK PACK" of guys he has in his movies. My first Apatow experience happened to be with all girls, which was quite delightful. The fact that it was from the makers of "SuperBad", etc, really didn't impress me, since I haven't seen any of those films, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
The aforementioned Kristen Wiig stars as "Annie", a woman who is down and out on love, work, her living situation, and...well, pretty much everything and then all of a sudden gets sucked into the vortex that is known as being the maid of honor in her best friend's wedding. The timing couldn't be worse. She's broke, bitter, and not exactly in the most stable state of mind to be planning her BFF's most important time of her life, but she deals, as best as she can, with not too successful results. Sucks for her, but very funny for the rest of us.
The movie dives into the bizarro world that is what I call "wedding culture". There are magazines, books, TV shows, and a multitude of other media dedicated to it. All those quirky, little rituals we have for each other when one is about to strap on the ball and chain, the showers, bachelorette parties, all the elaborate planning for this and that, the venue, the dress, the decorations, the food, the guest list, the entertainment, blah, blah, blah. I believe all that can sometimes get a little out of control. It's fucking insanity. Socially acceptable insanity.
A few notes, on a few things: Some bits of it kinda reminded me of an Adam Sandler movie. Just a few moments when the humor just seems a little too much for me. Like for example, what I call the "gross factor" as in, I didn't really need to see a woman puking on another woman's head. I think there is a tendency for a lot of today's comedies to have that kind of over the top bathroom humor, like literally in the bathroom humor. It's probably just my age showing, but moving right along...
Chris O'Dowd who plays Annie's love interest Officer Nathan is adorable. Although I don't know if it's just me, but his Irish accent was a bit questionable. I felt like I sometimes heard it, and then sometimes I didn't. Not necessarily great looking but so fucking sweet, cute, and charming, you just want to eat him up, with a cream puff on top, as opposed to Annie's "Ted", the dickhead, so-called "friend with benefits" played too well by "Mad Men" Jon Hamm who is really good at playing a douchebag.
The scene-stealer Melissa McCarthy's "Meagan" should have TOTALLY been a dyke. It was like c'mon people! Can't you see it?! The moment she walked onto the screen me and my friend looked at each other and were like "LESBIAN!" It didn't even feel right hearing her talk the way she did about men, and the last scene during the credits with that guy was just WRONG. When she was talking about doing a "Fight Club" bachelorette party theme, I thought to myself, "Thatta grrl!--- yep, LESBIAN!"
It's also good commentary on true friendship, that long-time, goes way back to child-hood, we know everything about each other, and been through everything together, can't do anything without you kind of friendship, and what that means, and how important it is, especially to women.
This is the kind of "girly" movie that is good for EVERYONE. One that both women, and men can appreciate. If not for the theme, definitely for the humor. Whoever says that women can't be funny can kiss Meagan's ass.
