I know that with a movie like Bridesmaids it could almost be appropriate to warn that it's not for all tastes. That if you're a fan of, oh I don't know, Superbad but still like romcoms like My Best Friend's Wedding that this is the movie for you, but if that combination sounds terrible you better stay away. But I'm not going to do that, because Bridesmaids transcends any genre you could fit it in and comes out the top as simply a goddamned funny movie. If you're offended by "blue" comedies, this will give you a naughty thrill. If you a Judd Aptow obsessee, this will give you all that plus actual real characters to boot. If you're a jaded hipster who only watches David Lynch "films" this might remind you to stop taking yourself so seriously and just have a good time like you did back in the day with your beloved Steve Martin and Bill Murray movies. I have a total crush on Bridesmaids. You will too.
Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a failed cake decorator who is struggling through her thirtysomething years. She's a failure in her career, a failure in love, she drives a crappy car, and lives with two really uncomfortable sibling roommates. You get the picture. When Annie's best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolf) asks her to be the maid of honor at her wedding, all of Annie's failures, insecurities, and inabilities come crashing down even harder. Adding insult to injury, Lillian's fiance's boss' prissy wife, Helen (Rose Byrne), is a wedding planning queen, and passive-aggressively tries to steal Annie's thunder at every turn. Yes, it's an "Ikea cute" setup, but it's good for an almost endless procession of great gags and sequences.
We’ve been hearing a lot of discussion about why Bridesmaids is different from other comedies of its ilk: It proves that girls can do raunch too. It’s empowering in its femme-centricity. I would like to counter, however, that what makes Bridesmaids truly great is that it really isn’t that different from other contemporary comedies, it’s just better all the way around. Let’s not forget that this is still a movie about fairly middle-of-the-road characters. They shop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and listen to top 40 radio, they’re not exactly young radicals. Annie’s search for a man is front and center in this story. Even the “ladies only” passages smell vaguely of the scent of Sex and the City. The difference is simply that Bridesmaids is funnier than any other movie that falls into those tropes, with better characters. Bridesmaids is less radical than it is impeccably crafted.
What is radical about Bridesmaids has nothing to do with the scenario and everything to do with the comedians involved. Hollywood is notoriously clueless about what to do with funny women. As I wrote a few months ago in my Paul review, big screen comedy is a boys club. Generally, women in comedies are relegated to the straight (wo)man role. If lady comedians actually get the chance to be funny on film, they often get boxed into a narrow range of stereo types. At best, some of the funniest female comedians like Gilda Radner and Madeline Kahn come across as distant and almost de-sexualized through their humor. Somewhat less noble, there’s the cute and bubbly ditzes like Bernadette Peters from The Jerk. Scraping the bottom of the barrel, a woman comedian could always wait til she’s 70 and play the old lady who talks dirty and/or raps in any number of Adam Sandler or Kevin James movies. What all of these character types are lacking is audience empathy. It is impossible, it seems, for a woman to be funny and relatable at the same time. That is precisely the barrier that Bridesmaids plows through.
I’m so impressed by/proud of/happy for Kristen Wiig. She was never that funny on Saturday Night Live (who is?), but I’ve been rooting for her ever since Whip It. Though her character didn’t get a ton of screen time, she managed to be witty, motherly, goofy, and sexy all rolled up in one utterly charming package. I lost track of her for a few years, but was pleasantly surprised when she stole the show from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Seth Rogan earlier this year in Paul. That was the first time I got a sense of her impressive improvisational skills. I coughed up a lung listening to her character’s attempts to learn how to cuss, and I imagine there will be plenty of alternate takes to enjoy once Paul comes out on DVD. What became clear though Paul was that Kristen Wiig’s filthy, quick-witted, side-splitting improv in no way hindered her ability to make her characters endearing.
I’m sure someone who writes about comedy more than I do could come up with a more cogent argument for why women and comedy have had a tough time mixing in the movies, but all I know is that Kristen Wiig? She got what it takes. Bridesmaids features perhaps the most impressive and best utilized cast of female comedians ever assembled. Maya Rudolf, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, and Rebel Wilson are all drop-dead hilarious. But Kristen Wiig wipes the floor with all of them. Everything I love about Wiig is turned up to eleven here, and if she can keep up the balancing act between likability and uncannily wicked wit, she'll have quite a career ahead of her. Bridesmaids is an ensemble victory, but even if everything else but Wiig stunk, she would have still been able to carry the movie, she’s just that good.
All of the other bridesmaids have hilarious moments, but Melissa McCarthy's Meghan stands head and shoulders above the others just by virtue of the fact that she takes a character that should never have worked and makes her possibly the funniest thing in the movie. Meghan, the sister of the groom, is heavyset, loudmouthed, and sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the bridesmaids' twiggish milieu. Meghan totally goes down the path of "fat person farting" jokes, but impossibly never falls over the edge into infantilism. Like many of the supporting roles, Meghan has more layers than first meet the eye, and her pride, confidence, and loyalty transcend the trappings of this character's stereotype. Plus, she is fucking funny. Did I mention this movie is funny?
We’re not living in a golden age of comedy, which makes it even more spectacular that I have no qualms calling Bridesmaids a comedy classic. This is funny, funny stuff. What are you waiting for? Go see it!
-Ben