Kristen Wiig, of SNL fame, finally gets her own vehicle to star in in the new Judd Apatow produced comedy, Bridesmaids. Think Knocked Up, but where the circle of friends are ladies rather than dudes. Wiig, who I've been a big fan of for a while in her often hilarious minor roles, pulls no punches in her writing and comedic style and is as rude and crude as any comedian with a penis. There are plenty of sex jokes and gross out gags. She even manages to call a twelve year old girl the dirty C word. Female comedians are often held to an unfair standard where they not only have to be funny but ladylike as well. The hell with that, if a woman wants to tell sex and fart jokes, let her, as long as she brings out the laughs. I think we've matured enough as a society to the point that if a joke is funny, it's funny, no matter who tells it.
Bridesmaids follows the story of a down on her luck woman, Annie (Wiig), whose best friend Lilian (fellow SNL member Maya Rudolph) asks her to be her maid of honor. Lilian has her own little world that Annie's not a part of with friends Annie's never met. Immediately tensions flare up as Annie is introduced to Lilian's other best friend, the seemingly perfect Helen, an upper class socialite that Annie cannot relate to. As the date gets closer to the wedding, Annie's life spirals further downwards as she must accept her changing world and deal with her own issues.
This movie is funny, sometimes uproariously so, but at times over the top crude. While vulgar jokes have become the norm, especially in Apatow produced movies, there are instances in Bridesmaids where it feels dirty just for the sake of being dirty. It's not a "I don't want to watch girls do that" thing, but a "I don't want to watch anybody do that" thing. One character in particular, Megan (Melissa McCarthy), is so obnoxiously out of left field that she detracts from the movie. While at times funny, her character is entirely unbelievable and purely there for gags. I would rather have more screen time go to Wiig's wacky antics.
This is a long comedy that could have spent a little more time in the editing room. I felt that some scenes were allowed to go on a tad too long or unnecessary all together if the script was a little tighter. It seems that they wanted to fit in as many jokes as possible and didn't know which ones to get rid of. There were some hit or miss moments that could have been left out and progress the story a little bit faster and more efficiently.
This is a fine movie that displays Kristen Wiig's talents as a writer and comedian and is the obvious star here. With some more fine tuning, Bridesmaids could have been better (can't you say that about any movie?), but it's hard to complain about a movie that is at times so genuinely funny.
Grade: B
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