It’s difficult to describe my overall impression of Bridesmaids. I wouldn’t say it is a great movie. I wouldn’t say it is a bad movie. It’s simply…..meh.
The movie is directed by Paul Feig (Feeeg), the creator of Freaks and Geeks, a highly overlooked show, and co-written by Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live fame, who also stars in the film. The people involved in this project had me sold when I first heard about it. Not to mention the other players involved, including Maya Rudolph (SNL), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911), and Ellie Kemper (The Office).
In the film, Annie’s (Wiig’s) life kind of sucks. Since her baking business failed, she works in a jewelry store and is a poor saleswoman. Poor in both senses of the word: She makes a horrible salary and anytime she might make a sale, she informs the customers of how worthless an engagement ring is because your lover will just cheat on you or break your heart. Meanwhile, she can’t make the rent for her apartment and is on the verge of being kicked out by her roommate and his freeloading sister. Her love life is nonexistent, and she gets by with frequent sexual romps with Ted (Jon Hamm) who doesn’t actually like her, but uses her for sex and then kicks her out. When Annie’s best friend Lillian (Rudolph) gets engaged, she asks Annie to be her maid of honor. From here, we’re introduced to Helen Harris (Rose Byrne), the “other best friend.” You know, the friend your best friend met recently whom she is very close to and since you two don’t hang out as much, she considers this friend to be special and it’ll be awkward when you two meet? That friend. What do you think happens when the best friend and the other best friend meet, especially when they’re both insecure about how important they are to the bride? They compete for her affection.
In the midst of this tension, we’re introduced to the other bridesmaids. There’s Becca (Kemper), who is a newlywed and unintentionally makes Annie feel worse about her own crappy love life. There’s Megan (Melissa McCarthy) the groom’s blunt, tomboyish sister. And there’s Rita (McClendon-Covey), who is married with three sons and hates it. We’re also introduced to Nathan Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd), a cop who takes a liking to Annie, and maybe she likes him too because he’s actually a nice person who treats her well. All along the way, numerous things happen in the course of planning the wedding, the dresses, the bachelorette party, and the bridal shower, all while Annie tries to keep her life together in the midst of Helen trying to one-up her as “best friend.”
There aren’t really many distinct positives or negatives about this movie. It really depends on your taste. It’s subjective, like all comedies. I’ve heard critics who praised the movie because it was funny. I’ve also heard critics who saw Wiig’s character as a completely despicable bitch and resented the fact that the movie wanted us to like her. I’m more on the side of praise. My problems with the movie have nothing to do with Wiig’s character. I see her as a tremendously flawed woman who has a lot of issues that she selfishly projects onto those around her. She is not, however, unlikable, and certainly not despicable. She is flawed. Whether you agree with me or not, it doesn’t matter. I have no stake in the success of this movie. No one has a gun to my head telling me to make excuses for this character and her horribleness. It’s my opinion. She is flawed, but I still like her. Most of the “bitchy” things she does in the movie are indeed bitchy, but they’re performed in a comedic context. For those who would retort, “but this needs to take place in the real world, no matter what the genre is”, well, it does, and she gets her real-world comeuppance. So don’t stress about that.
My issue with the movie is its comedy. This film was sold to me on the condition that it was not a chick flick (it wasn’t), it was raunchy enough for a male audience (it was) and that it was funny (it was). It was just kind of long in some parts. For anyone who watches Saturday Night Live, they know the sketches of Kristen Wiig. They’ve seen her quirky characters and her talent for uncomfortable humor. They also see how the sketches carry on FOREVER. I’m not a naysayer. I love Kristen Wiig. She is a talented and funny woman. But I also think sometimes her sketches lose steam because they just keep going with the joke. This happens a number of times in the movie and the audience got bored and sort of got sick of laughing at the same thing over and over again for 5 minutes. I’m not exaggerating. 5 minutes of the same joke. It really messed with the pacing of the film and pace is an important thing for a comedy. It can’t be boring at any point, and God bless it, but this film was boring in several points.
But it has its merits. The cast is funny and I must give the film credit for bringing together these talented women. Even though some of the bridesmaids are underused, they are funny. But the trailer gave me the impression that they would be more present in the movie. Among them is the great Melissa McCarthy, who shines in this movie. When I saw her in the trailer, I kind of cringed. She seemed like she was cast to be the goofy fat friend to cut to for a quick joke, the female Chris Farley. Now, she was that, but she was so much more in this movie. She actually had a character with some depth, and the funniest scenes involved her. Keep an eye on her. She was probably my favorite character.
Overall, I’d go see Bridesmaids, but if you’re going to see it, do what I did. Go to a theater that sells matinee tickets for $3. Since a lot of you won’t get to do that, rent it. It's tough for me to say that, because I want films like this to succeed, and it has, but this is not one of those films that you need to see in theaters. If you still want to, by all means, do it. Bring your friends. You’ll probably laugh. It’s not a bad film. For the record, I admire it for bringing the male and female audiences together. It succeeds on that level. It just forgot to be funny enough for both audiences.
Bridesmaids is now playing in theaters everywhere. Mobile residents can still see the film at the Hollywood and Carmike cinemas.
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