Bridesmaids are out to have fun!

Bridesmaids (2011)
Certified: 16
Duration: 125 minutes
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudoph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Chris O’Dowd, Jill Clayburgh, Jon Hamm
KRS release

Bridesmaids is the sort of movie that would be given a disservice if it is termed to be a “chick flick” or the female version of The Hangover. In its own right this is a fresh comedy, that has real sparks and by the end it also manages to be a romantic comedy that skips over the genre’s usual stumbling blocks. This is a film that manages to be rude, in your face and authentic enough in its presentation and feels that it is actually populated by real women.

Kristen Wiig is Annie, a middle aged woman whose life is going down the drain. She has no boyfriend, the guy (Jon Hamm) she is dating wants her simply for sex, her car is falling apart and now her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) tells her she is getting married. She is happy for her but when she is given the job of being her maid of honour the pressure seems to be too much. Pressure arises when Annie seems to be in competition with Helen (Rose Byrne) Lillian’s new rich friend who seems to know it all when it comes to parties. This is something that the other three bridesmaids: simple Becca (Ellie Kemper), rough Megan (Melissa McCarthy) and sad Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey) realise. Help may be on the way in the form of policeman Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd) but Annie seems to wreck everything she touches: Brazilian dining is not compatible with wedding dressing tryouts, psychological trouble at the bridal shower and breaking quite a few laws on an airplane aimed for Las Vegas turns this into a trip that falls out of the norm.

Bridesmaids milks the comedy moments to the full and this is Paul Feig’s strength. Every moment that has the chance to be funny is simply used without any stops and restraints. Just take a look at the Brazilian dining sequence. Vomit and scatological jokes are nothing new but having the characters doing this while looking so Barbie like in bridal clothing adds more than a notch to the laughter quota. Then there is the charm the film exhudes and the feeling it gives as it seems to be placing the characters under focus and brings the audience so much nearer to this all so excellent cast. Do not get me wrong, Bridesmaids is not inventing the wheel for the genre. It is, however, putting a fresh zing to it, a much more balanced look and gives the audience the feel that anything can happen in this mad cap movie. The balance between rude, funny and romantic is a hard one to achieve and here Bridesmaids juggles these elements (and many more excellently!) very well indeed.

Produced by Judd Apatow, Bridesmaids is the best thing he has delivered in recent memory. The script by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig works well as its sentimental streak does not feel like an afterthought. It’s quite fun seeing these mismatched and very different women try to get along with each other, up the ante on each and testing the bonds of sisterhood in a much more eloquent way than any of the dames in the Sex and the City pictures ever did. The character of Annie is one that is very easy to associate: from her egocentric boyfriend to her insecurities, from her loyalty to her friend to her at times deranged manner really give Kristen Wiig the chance to shine.

Ms Wiig lives up to the promise she has always shown by hogging the spotlight and running away with it. Bridesmaids is jolly good fun which also marks Jill Clayburgh’s last screen appearance after she succumbed to leukemia back in November.