![]() ![]() While the film is full of crass humor and a few cheap laughs, it has an emotional center and, at the end of the day, is about the complexity of female relationships. The Apatow philosophy is getting audiences to watch movies that are smarter and sweeter than they’re expecting, and Bridesmaids stays true to that. In true Apatowian fashion, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s Oscar-nominated script perfectly balanced gross-out gags and raunchy jokes with honest meditation on real human emotions. It inspired a wave of female-led R-rated comedies to combat the male-dominated turn the genre had taken throughout the 2000s with films like Wedding Crashers and The Hangover. Certainly, as regards comedy, Wiig is worth her weight in gold.Paul Feig’s Bridesmaidswas one of the most popular and influential comedies of the 2010s, leading to some of the most iconic and funniest scenes in Bridesmaids. Ultimately it's up to Annie to realise her true value. Our very own Chris O'Dowd plays the man who might save Annie from herself, but their romance is only a subplot in a bigger picture. But the dream of true love is not entirely dead either. Having older women in the frame (Byrne aside) also means their emotional baggage carries more weight and makes for harder hitting punch-lines. Even so, the film is no less shrewd in subverting gender roles. Her crowd is also more mature than we're used to seeing onscreen (in age only!), but she avoids the self-important pseudo-philosophising of Sex And The City. Wiig's brand of comedy is loud, proud and just gosh darned funny. Toilet humour is factored in too, which wouldn't feel so inspired except for the rare disclosure that women don't always smell of sugar and spice. Where the women must usually play it straight to irresponsible men, they have licence to goof off here, even stepping out for a hen party in Vegas (though free booze on the plane means they never get there). Stepping in to take some of the flak is Melissa McCarthy, hilariously butch and frisky as Lillian's future sister-in-law Megan.Īt times this plays like an oestrogen-fuelled spin on The Hangover, or one of Judd Apatow's bromance comedies (he's one of the producers), only because the group dynamics are more finely tuned than in the average rom-com and the laughs stem from that interaction rather than a contrived situation. Her life is falling to pieces, but it's her own drunken flailing that makes a bad situation worse and threatens to drive Lillian away. But however annoying Helen is, Wiig resists lapsing into bitchiness by making herself the butt of the jokes. Their face-off at the engagement party is brilliantly droll as each strives to get the last word in a toast to the happy couple. Unlike her brassy turn in Get Him to the Greek, Byrne is all grace and elegance as Helen, Lillian's new gal pal and a threat to Annie who grudgingly shares the task of planning the wedding. Then Rose Byrne comes along as co-maid of honour. ![]() ![]() Of course that's easy for her to say with her shiny new wedding ring, but the friendship feels warm and genuine, even as they profess their mutual love with raisins stuck in their teeth. ![]() Best pal Lillian (fellow SNL member Maya Rudolph) is the voice of better judgment, urging Annie to stop taking those booty calls. She appears to suffer from an involuntary masochistic impulse and Hamm (stupid as well as smug in a departure from his adman guise) is just an extension of that capacity for self-harm. Wiig, who cut her teeth on Saturday Night Live and co-wrote the script, is merciless in her portrayal of Annie. It's the start of a deliriously funny nervous breakdown exacerbated by news that her best friend is getting married. That turns to despondency as she's shown the door and ends up riding it like a carousel horse because she doesn't want to bother him with showing her out. Kristen Wiig (the virginal Ruth Buggs in Paul) is thrashed about the bedroom by Mad Men's John Hamm wearing little but a weary expression. If the title hints at a frilly chick flick about love and forever, then the opening two minutes of Bridesmaids quickly and very wittily knocks aside those expectations. ![]()
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