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....”
