Bridesmaids



I recently read a review on Bridesmaids posted by member of a message board I frequent that sums up the movie perfectly: “It’s like a chick flick made for chicks who hate chick flicks.” I could not agree more with this comment! Bridesmaids is the anti-chick flick. There is nothing sweet concerning this movie it is just one raunchy laugh after another.

            Kristen Wiig plays Annie Walker (wonder if she watches Covert Affairs). Her friend Lillian (played by the ever hilarious Maya Rudolph) has just asked Annie to be her maid of honor for her wedding. Annie and Lillian have been best friends since they were little so the pressure is Annie to do a good job. The pressure get even heavier once Lillian introduces Annie to the other bridesmaids especially Helen who is the wife of Lillian’s fiancé’s boss’s wife. Helen is rich and spoiled and has completely taken over planning the wedding. The other bridesmaids are all insane in their own ways: Rita is bored housewife with three boys (who hysterically explains “I cracked a blanket in half!”); Becca is young and innocent and just looking for a good time; Megan is just wacked out of her mind but becomes the voice of reason in the end.

            Right off the bat nothing goes right for Annie being the maid of honor: Helen has taken over everything and all the other women, including Lillian, side with her. Annie’s life is also spinning out of control with nothing going her way.

            Some parts of the movie drag and some of the jokes are just way too drawn out but the whole thing is just really funny. The cast is one of the best assembled in years. Kristen Wiig also wrote the movie so if you know her well enough from Saturday Night Live or some of her other movies you can see her dry, sarcastic, raunchy humor come through. I was very happy with Maya Rudolph’s performance here. I have viewed Rudolph in her movie Away We Go and was not impressed with her acting which bummed me out because I really like her. You can clearly see that Wiig and Rudolph have a good friendship outside the movie. You can believe their characters are best friends. The funniest person in the movie hands down has to go to Melissa McCarthy as Megan. She was this butch sort of woman who was just crazy. When Annie and Megan meet for the first time Megan tells Annie a story that is guaranteed to make your laugh so hard your stomach will hurt (my brother was laughing so hard he could not breathe). Ellie Kemper from The Office plays Becca and she was as always so adorable. Wendi McLendon- Covy played Rita; the woman never fails to make me laugh. I am always excited to see her in something she was so fantastic in Reno 911!. Rose Byrn plays Helen. Helen was a rich, manipulative bitch who is meant to get on your nerves. The whole time my brother and I kept saying “God Rose Byrn is gorgeous” haha.

            Since I know Kristen Wiig’s comedy pretty well I was not expecting a typical chick flick. There are some chick flick-y moments that I felt kind of brought the movie to a standstill. But let me just say this now do not go into seeing Bridesmaids thinking it is going to be a cute as a button Reese Witherspoon- type chick flick because you will be sorely disappointed. My favorite part of the movie (which I am not telling because it is WAY too funny to reveal) is almost like disgusting guy toilet humor and I could not stop laughing! Bridesmaids is raunchy and hysterical from beginning (literally raunchy right at the beginning) to end. Wiig has definitely proved not all “girl” movies need to be sweet and cute. I am so sick of chick flicks I have pretty much gotten rid of all the ones I had on DVD (I say “almost” because there are some like How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days that are really good.). I was walked out of the theater after Bridesmaids so satisfied. Hopefully more “chick flicks” like this will be made in the future.

            See Bridesmaids if you like movies such as The Hangover and Knocked Up.