BRIDESMAIDS

“BRIDESMAIDS” (Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and various other chicks)

This was advertised as ‘The Hangover’ of chick flicks – but don’t call it a chick flick...
Well, I believe in honesty and though it isn’t a run of the mill awful chick flick – it IS still a chick flick. I can say that because I just didn’t ‘get’ the way these women behaved, though my wife & the heavily perfumed members of the audience seemed to understand them and thought they were much funnier than I.
For a chick flick it was quite funny, but compared to regular comedies, it’s just ‘all right’.
The plot works (which is a rarity for c.f.’s) Kristen Wiig (as Annie) discovers her lifelong best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph, who should never be shown in close-ups) is getting married. As the obvious maid of honor, Annie is put upon to virtually organize every pre-wedding excursion she and the other bridesmaids are expected to make. Problem for Annie is she’s broke – her dream bakery shop failed miserably which lead to her boyfriend dumping her and having to move in with a loathsome brother & sister combo and taking a job in a jewelry store where her depressed persona isn’t appreciated. And now she’s expected to shell out hundreds of dollars for a dress & hundreds more for a trip to Vegas while being unable to come up with her share of the rent, straining the relationship with her unsympathetic roommates, as well as with Lillian.
There is no resemblance to ‘The Hangover’ in any way – having a scene where Annie gets plastered doesn’t make it Hangover-esque.
Annie’s car is an additional pain, though the piece of junk does lead to a meeting with a friendly police officer (Chris O’Dowd)
Annie has no one but herself to blame for the ton of baggage she carries around because she makes the choice to be treated like dirt by the douche bag who 'allows' her to have sex with him as long as she leaves shortly after he's through with her. Still, you can’t help but feel sorry for her because she is an obviously nice person who is just having an extended streak of bad luck.
So Kristen Wiig as Annie is the perfect lead character – where ‘Bridesmaids’ goes wrong is with the other title characters - & not to say that any of them are horribly written or unpleasant – it’s just that this group of women would never join forces under any circumstances. Someone like Lillian would never have such a diverse collection of friends. I guess the thought process was – make the bridesmaids as varied as possible & that will lead to hilarity... but I just kept thinking – why are these women in this wedding party? The only actress I knew previously was Wendi McLendon-Covey (from Reno 911) The other three; the chubby, looks-like-a-lesbian-but-apparently-isn’t, one; the rich bitch & the quiet one are played Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne & Ellie Kemper. They all play their roles well, but there’s no chemistry - & how could there be? They have nothing in common. So I guess we were supposed to laugh at all these various personalities clashing from scene to scene.
But Wiig is the mainstay and I have to give her credit for holding this film together (being a co-writer she’s responsible for the good & the bad) because I cared about Annie; I wanted her to stop being a doormat & realize that officer Rhodes wasn’t another douche bag male.
There is one stretch of the film which had me laughing out loud as Annie continuously drives by officer Rhodes’ squad car trying to get him to pull her over. That scene alone provided enough comedy to elevated 'Bridesmaids to ‘one of the better’ chick flicks I’ve seen.
As the film reached it’s climax, brief pop sensations from the 90’s, Wilson Phillips appear to sing at Lillian’s wedding; I thought for certain they had a replacement playing the part of Chynna Phillips as the woman in the middle didn’t look at all like the cute blonde I remember as being the reason for viewing their videos – turns out it’s actually Chynna Phillips... Botched plastic surgery? The Wilson sisters looked pretty much the same, but what the heck happened to Chynna?

You women can tell me if I’m wrong, but I was put off by the failed attempts at gross-out comedy – For me, it just wasn’t funny (except for the one scene where one bridesmaid throws up on the back of the head of the bridesmaid who made it to the toilet first)
Guys can be rude & crude because we are in real life. I guess I just expect women to be better than us so when they act like men they’re more disgusting than funny.
So yes, this is the rare chick flick that I can recommend despite the absence of any scantilly clad hot babes... Jeez, what the heck happened to Chynna Phillips?