Bridesmaids (Comedy)

Why do weddings bring out the “crazy” in us? Who knows, but ‘Bridesmaids’ captures some of the hilarity and absurdity of this joyous occasion perfectly!

‘Bridesmaids’ is written by two talented and funny chicks - Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig (of Saturday night live fame), and the cast is full of comediennes including some memorable Aussies. One of the great things about this film is that its a testament to funny chicks and a great reminder that there are too few comedies written by, and starring, women. It’s like ‘Hangover’ for girls (the first ‘Hangover’ not the second one!).

Kristen Wiig plays the starring role in the film as down-on-her-luck Annie. Annie’s been asked to take on the coveted maid of honour role by her long term best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph). Despite the fact that nothing is going right in Annie’s own life, she’s determined to be a great maid of honour and make her best friend proud. Unfortunately one of the other bridesmaids, is quite obviously gutted she wasn’t given the maid of honour role and so makes it her mission to expose Annie’s inadequacies. Kristen Wiig is hilarious (albeit a little over-the-top neurotic) as Annie, whilst Aussie Rose Byrne is positively unlikeable as Maya. There are also some worthy performances from the lads - Jon Hamm (of Mad Men fame) is brilliant as Annie’s f*ck buddy and Chris O’Dowd is perfect as her new love interest.

‘Bridesmaids’ is a great laugh, with funny scenes from beginning to end (unlike many comedies where I find the funniness seems to get watered down as the movie goes on). Apparently the cast spent a few weeks improvising with each other before filming, some of which was incorporated into the movie. Unfortunately there were a couple of scenes that seemed to resort to more puerile humour. For example, I found the scene in the wedding dress shop totally cringe-worthy which I thought was a bit of a shame given the obvious intelligence and wit of the female writers.

The other thing that bugged me slightly was the way the three strong female leads were ultimately driven by insecurity and jealousy. Again, I thought a smart and sassy group of female comedians would have been able to balance out the equation a little be celebrating some of the positive aspects of female friendship. And artistic licence aside - after the way they treated each other in the lead up to the wedding - I personally found it hard to believe that any of these women managed to find a way back to friendship.

Nevertheless you’re bound to laugh out loud at ‘Bridesmaids’- it’s one of those rare films that can serve as both a chick flick and a date night flick. And there’s the added bonus of seeing Wilson Phillips perform their hit ‘Hold on’. It’ll make you want to grab your hairbrush and play air guitar as you exit down the cinema aisle. Or was that just me?! And more importantly, ‘Bridesmaids’ also manages to leave you with some heartfelt messages, for example, the importance of having faith in yourself, afterall, “don’t you know, things can change, things can go your way, if you hold on for one more day....”

Hangover Part II (Comedy)

I would honestly rather wake up with a hangover than sit through ‘Hangover Part II’ again. Even though I had extremely low expectations going into this film given the reviews I’d read, I still managed to come away feeling surprised by how bad ‘Hangover Part II’ really is. I also came away feeling perplexed about why it seems to be so difficult to make a successful sequel? Clearly the answer is NOT to simply replicate the storyline from the first successful movie which is exactly whatthe producers of this film decided to do – basically ‘Hangover Part II’ is same sh*t, different location.

‘Hangover Part II’ takes place two years after the first bachelor party in Las Vegas. This time, Stu (EdHelms) is all loved up and set to get married in a gorgeous beachside setting in Thailand and he isdetermined not to let his mates ruin it. Nevertheless, the lads are back and Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) manage to give Stu a night to remember (or more aptly, a night to forget!), in spite of his insistence on a low key pre-wedding brunch in favour ofa bachelor party. Stu’s downfall begins as he finally agrees to one quiet beer by the camp fire on the beach to calm his pre-wedding day jitters. Cut to the next morning and Phil, Alan, and Stu find themselves in a sleazy Bangkok apartment with no recollection of what happened the night before.They also wake up to discover a freaky drug mule monkey, half a human finger, a missing brother-in-law, and a tattoo on the soon-to-be groom’s face.

Ken Jeong is also back as Mr Chow although this time he’s trying so hard to be funny, he totally misses the mark. As it turns out, Mr Jeong is a physician so has something to fall back on should 'movies' not work out.

I didn’t love the first one as much as most people seemed to but I really enjoyed it, and I definitely experienced many laugh out loud moments. Unfortunately, during the screening of ‘Hangover PartII’ I honestly struggled to get a smile up, let alone a belly laugh.

I wasn’t even going to bother writing this film up but it gives me the chance to award my first 1 star rating.

Sitting through this film really made me wonder about the process these blockbuster films go through before getting distributed. It blows my mind that nowhere along the way did a single producer/ editor/ actor/ friend once fess up and say – “Hey guys, this just isn’t funny”. Or perhaps they did but someone important decided they could make enough money out of it anyway by riding off the success of the first film. And they were probably right.

Only for diehard fans.......

Babies (Documentary)

I was dying to see this doco at the Sydney Film Festival last year but unfortunately it sold out in a jiffy. So I was more than a little excited to learn that ‘Babies’ (or ‘Bebes’ as it was originally titled given the French director, Thomas Balmes) was going to be on short release here at a few independent cinemas.

‘Babies’ follows four babies from different parts of the world and compares and contrasts their first year of life. First of all there’s cheeky little Ponijao born into a Namibian village, then the super-relaxed Bayer from a farm in Mongolia, then feisty Mari from Tokyo, and finally little Hattie born into privilege in San Francisco. These four choices perfectly showcase the spectrum of economic, technological, and social development and the impact - if any – these aspects might have on a baby’s first year.

Trust me - you don’t need to be a parent to find this film adorable! I’m quite sure anyone with a heartbeat will enjoy and appreciate the beautiful images, the lyrical musical score, and the subtle commentary on Western society. And there is no dialogue, aside from a few ‘goo-goos’and ’ga-gas’ which makes it very easy to sit back and just focus on the visual feast.

What I found most striking was not that so many themes were universal across the four different cultures, but rather it was the few differences that really struck me. First up, you really notice how natural the process of childbirth can be vs. the medical procedure that it’s become in Western society.

‘Babies’ also really drives home how unnecessarily over protective we’ve become about routines, eating habits, cleanliness, contact with animals, etc. I delighted in watching little Bayer from Mongolia travel home from hospital on the back of his dad’s motor bike; entertain himself by climbing all over the three family goats in the middle of their pen; and take a bath while one of the goats simultaneously drinks from his bathwater. I suddenly felt quite ridiculous about the hand sanitiser I was rubbing vigorously into my hands as I was getting ready to feed my little one!

Another really salient point the film makes is how lonely and isolating child rearing has become in our society –it was so lovely to see the Namibian women hanging out in groups all day with their children, to the point where sometimes I wasn’t even sure who was the mother of which child! I never thought I would ever say this but thank god for Mother’s group!

Finally, it quietly demonstrated how so many activities are such a natural part of life in less developed societies (e.g. dance, music, language, learning etc) vs. Western society where it feels like these activities have become completely segregated and almost artificial. In fact, I felt more than a little silly as Lilliana and I sheepishly rushed out of the cinema at the end of the film to ensure that we weren’t late for our baby Einsteinz music class!

‘Babies’ is 79 minutes of love and beauty and gentleness which is such a nice distraction from the fear, and tragedy and violence that has graced our TV screens of late. There are so many beautiful moments in this film. In fact that’s exactly what this film is: a collection of beautiful moments. And who wouldn’t enjoy that?