We’re a bit late coming to the table with this, admittedly, but we couldn’t help but give our thoughts on things …
“The Hangover” was a huge hit and it wasn’t hard to see why. A bunch of guys out on an outrageous trip, doing some crazy, freaky, outrageously raunchy crap that made us laugh and want to follow these crazy dudes on one bad trip after another. Now it’s the girls turn. People have referred to “Bridesmaids” as the “girl” version of “The Hangover” and yes, it does share many similarities with the antics and set up by comparison. However, “Bridesmaids” has one considerable difference over “The Hangover”…..it’s SO much funnier, and you’re about to find out why! Annie (Kristen Wiig) is the maid of honor for her best friend’s wedding, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), and while everything seems to be going up for Lillian, Annie is going down, down, down…and she’s taking the entire bridesmaids party with her. As Annie desperately tries to keep her life together and keep Helen (Rose Byrne) from replacing her as Lillian’s best friend, every imaginable and unimaginable thing that can go wrong goes wrong in ways that will make this the most memorable bridesmaids party ever…whether they want it to or not.
Despite the obvious similarities, calling “Bridesmaids” a girl copycat of “The Hangover” does not do this film justice. “Bridesmaids” is a wild, raunchy, hilarious ride that serves up one of the funniest movie scripts I have heard in a long time, and I love anything that can make me laugh. Everything that “The Hangover” had is tripled in terms of its comedic quality: the actors, the chemistry, the gags, the timing, everything was here and everything was just one laugh riot gag after another. Although it was director Paul Feig (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) that directed this film, its SNL member Kristen Wiig who really brought this movie to life, in more ways than one. Wiig not only serves as the lead star in this film, but she personally co-wrote and co-produced the film and it clearly shows. The movie speaks and moves under the care of a talented and hysterically funny individual who clearly shows how important this movie is to her with her talented acting and writing skills. If this film is but a taste of things to come from Wiig’s comedic mind, then expect to see her name a lot more often in Hollywood.
Films that follow the formula of having a rag tag group of crazy, eccentric friends causing all kinds of R rated hi-jinks is typical to come by, usually with 3 or 4 really good laughs packed inside. This film however is not typical and it doesn’t slow down or run out of gas, every minute of the film you are already being set up for a top-notch, first class, A-grade joke that will make you drop to the floor and laugh so hard you’ll have to pinch yourself just to stop you from laughing so hard.
The situations are fresh and never get stale, the humor is constantly being bombarded at you, and every actress nails their comedic timing with ease and excellence. But it’s not just the humor that works; it’s the relationships. Annie’s situation makes it easy for anyone to understand the difficulty of her situation, and it’s that clever writing that helps sucks us into this character’s plight. This translates well into the relationship troubles. This movie focuses heavily on friendship and realizing who your real friends are and who is just competing to be your BFF…but with diarrhea jokes! Everything from the romances, the friendships, to the situations never stray too far from being humorous, keeping my attention and my laughter constant.
Kristen Wiig is a very talented woman. Producing, writing, and acting, and pulling all 3 positions off with finesse is not something a person can do easily. Annie is the kind of girl who can relate to the everyday woman or even the everyday guy; she’s down to Earth, realistic, and someone you genuinely want to root for. Having a strong character connection with the audience is very important if you want the audience to like the movie, even if the movie is all about laughing at people getting food poisoning at a wedding dress store. Like I always say, you can have the greatest story in the world but if you don’t care about whom you’re watching, the movie’s not gonna work. Rose Byrne played an excellent maid here, she made her rivalry with Annie not only hilarious but also subtle enough to make the character seem believable and not outlandish. Most movies treat their characters rivals or enemies as over the top comic book villains who have to be made of 100% pure filth to make you hate the character’s guts. But here, it’s more realistic, more sincere, and it’s thanks to Byrne’s portrayal we get someone who we can hate and laugh at and still say “Yeah, I know someone like that.”
All the maids are a riot to watch, Ellie Kemper (The Office), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911!), but by far the biggest scene stealer is hands down, Melissa McCarthy (Mike and Molly) as Megan. Every line out of this woman’s mouth was comedy gold, you could have tossed out everyone except Wiig and McCarthy and this movie would still have you in tears. However, even though this movie IS called Bridesmaids, it really mainly focuses on the 2 I just mentioned. Now, there’s actually a story-based reason why they did this and I do understand that, but it did bother me a little Kemper and the others didn’t get as much screen time because every one of these ladies has what it takes to keep the comedy ball rolling. This is not a bad thing; it’s still a flaw but still, far as flaws go this one is easily tolerable. Even people who are easily turned off by toilet humor can find something to like and laugh at in this movie, and that goes for you too guys. I’ve heard many males think this is a chick flick and favor “The Hangover” but trust me when I say this ladies: bringing your boyfriends, fiancés, husbands, or whatever to see this movie, would be the best movie pick you could ever do for them.
The talent and comedy in this film is overflowing and it would be a disservice to yourself not to see this movie simply by assuming it’s a female flavored “Hangover” rip off, or simply because you’re not a fan of “chick flicks”; this movie is neither of those things. If you have even a shred of a sense of humor, this movie will turn you red with laughter. If you’re a woman, see this movie, if you’re a guy, see this movie, if you have to be dragged to see a movie like this then allow yourself to be dragged, watch the movie, try not to die laughing, thank whoever dragged you there and then call Kristen Wiig up and thank her for such a good time. I know I will.
“Bridesmaids” gets a perfect 10 out of 10.
