Bridesmaids is the first female-centric comedy to emerge in recent years and proves once again that great writing is the absolute key to a great film. Penned and acted by Kristen Wiig, formerly of SNL fame, directed by Paul Feig and guided by comedic genius Judd Apatow, Bridesmaids finds the perfect balance between character depth, great casting, fresh gags and a touch of awkward truth.
Annie (Kristen Wiig) is a hapless 30-something woman with a dead-end job, dead-end quasi-boyfriend (Jon Hamm) and a generally dead-end life. The only person who understands her is Lillian (Maya Rudolph), her best friend. After announcing her engagement, Lillian asks the self-doubting Annie to be her Maid of Honour, which only serves to bring Annie’s hopeless love life and organisational ineptitude into sharp focus. Add to this Lillian’s other ‘best friend’, Helen (Rose Byrne), whose financial success, managerial skill, backhanded compliments and patronising smile combine to make Annie’s life a pure living hell. Bent on being the best Maid of Honour she can be, Annie soldiers on through disaster after disaster, while also trying to muddle through her own inherent personal dilemas.
The first thing that jumps out at you about Bridesmaids is there are no A-List stars involved. The main cast is primarily made up of rising comedy names, SNL regulars, stand-up comedians and unknowns. So why does this film work so well? Pure and simple – the characters.
The raw comedy prowess of Wiig, developed over years at SNL, together with the tried-and-true structural comedy knowledge of Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up) combine to create a well crafted, hilarious, character driven story where every decision comes directly from within the character and not from the needs of the plot. This is something lacking from many of today’s comedies and is the sole reason many of them feel so thin and weak. Where Bridesmaids differs is evident in the airplane, dress-shopping and bridal shower speech scenes where the comedy situations come directly from character flaws, decisions and actions, not because the story needs pepping up with a gross-out comedy set piece.
While all of the ensemble actors put in solid performances, one of the standouts has to be newcomer Melissa McCarthy, playing the blunt and no-nonsense Megan. The chubby yet feisty bridesmaid is not afraid to suggest a Fight Club for a hen’s night or brazenly proposition a suspected Air Marshall during a flight, providing some of the best comedy relief moments of the film. Rose Byrne as the control freak ‘other best friend’ and Chris O’Dowd as the soft, goofy cop were also top notch.
What stands Bridesmaids apart from your average chick flick, and vastly helped its financial success I’m sure, is that it definitely appeals to men as well as women. I would venture to say that this comes from the fact that most of the female characters (apart from perhaps Helen) are in some small way almost tom-boyish in nature. With more aggressive and hopelessly pathetic personalities rather than girly and bitchy, men are given a better chance to understand the characters and stay engaged. The odd poop gag helps too. The only overall negative about the film was that it felt a little long at over 2 hours and could have possibly been tightened up a bit.
Bridesmaids was definitely a surprise for me and absolutely deserves its high critical praise. Equally entertaining for both sexes, this intelligent comedy is a hilariously satirical gem with heartfelt characters and a quality cast. A must see.
4 STARS
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