Bridesmaids

The folks at the Judd Apatow film factory have, at times, been accused of quasi-sexism. Some feel that the films that have been directed and/or produced by him (KNOCKED UP, I LOVE YOU MAN, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, to name a few examples) give us male characters who are all goofy and fun, but then they give us female characters who are neurotic and complain all the time. Perhaps as a response to that, the Apatow production clan has come up with BRIDESMAIDS, a film that is all about showing us that girls can also let loose and engage in slapstick humor. While this film is inferior in quality to most of the Apatow-brand comedies (which have ranged from very good to near-great), I'm proud to say that not only is it a mostly effective work of humor, but that it finally gives a chance to Kristen Wiig (who has had some uproariously funny supporting roles in the past) to carry a film in a lead role. The result may not be comedic brilliance, but it's still a worthy ride.

Life is quickly turning very shitty for Annie (Kristen Wiig). Her bakery has gone broke. She's with a guy whom she'd like to at least try dating, but he only wants her for sex, and even rudely asks her to leave once their carnal encounters are over. She's running out of money, and her two apartment mates are being difficult about handling rent payments, and even worse, they go into Annie's room without her permission and read her diary. To make matters more difficult, Annie's best friend, Lill (Maya Rudolph), whom she has known since childhood, announces that she's getting married. This should be good news, except that Annie is worried about losing one of the few good things she has left in her life. Lill asks Annie to be her maid of honor, because, of course, she's supposed to be her best friend. But that, too, falls into question, once the wedding plans get under way, and Lill's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne), who is extremely wealthy and knows everything about planning all sorts of events, not only starts getting in the way of the wedding plans, but also seems to have an agenda aimed at stealing Annie's treasured spot as Lill's best friend. Cattiness ensues.

Ever since the bakery went broke, Annie has been working as an employee at a jewelry store, and there are two scenes that take place at that store in which Wiig gets to be at her most hilarious. Both of them involve Annie being initially "fake nice" to customers who have overly idealistic views about friends and family, yet eventually growing weary and spewing the harsh truth at them. The first scene in which she freaks out a couple is terrific ("He may not even be Asian!") and then the second scene, in which she has a delightfully venomous exchange with a bitchy high-schooler, is sheer brilliance.

But what really shocks me about BRIDESMAIDS is that, as much as I love Wiig and as much as I was looking forward to this film being "her show" so to speak, I have to admit that there is an actress in this film who upstages her. I'm talking about Melissa McCarthy, who plays the role of Lill's future sister-in-law, Megan. This performance is comedic genius. Her first scene, in which she tells the story of falling off a cruise and having an encounter with a dolphin, is absolutely uproarious, and don't even get me started on the airplane sequence. Megan embodies the Apatow trademark of having terrific secondary characters (i.e. Debbie in KNOCKED UP, Aldous Snow in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, the two cops in SUPERBAD). If McCarthy gets her own comedic vehicle in the future, count me in. The fact that she plays such a masterfully zany character in this film, yet we later find out that her character works in an ultra-serious, secretive government job is just damn funny in its great irony.

BRIDESMAIDS has what may be one of the longest sequences ever of scenes shot in the confines of an airplane (without being one of those films that is set mostly on an airplane). There are certainly a few instances in which the film could be criticized for being overlong and in need of trimming some of its fat - it runs over two hours, but if you had cut out a few things here and there, it could've easily been an hour and 40 minutes and just as funny (but then again, one could say that of nearly all of the Apatow clan's movies). However, that criticism doesn't apply to the airplane sequence, because EVERYTHING that happens during it is not only terrific, but it is edited seamlessly well. Wiig shines greatly in her portrayal of initially being paranoid about flying on a plane and then reacting to the effects of mixing prescription drugs and alcohol, while McCarthy never lets the laughs stop as her character interacts with a passenger whom she is convinced is an air marshal. The explosive conclusion of the airplane sequence is terrific, and the film surprised me when it doesn't allow our girls to arrive at their final destination, which was Las Vegas - I was totally expecting that this was going to devolve into a female imitation of THE HANGOVER, and was very pleased when I saw that the film chose to take another route.

Sadly, there are other areas in which the film doesn't fare as well. From the very first moment in which the animosity between Annie and Helen is set up, it feels like a cartoonish rivalry, rather than the more realistic material we've gotten in other Apatow-brand comedies. In one of the film's worst decisions, one of the first interactions between both characters involves a poorly-edited scene in which they purposely injure each other with tennis balls. The comedic timing is off here, and even worse, the scene feels misplaced, almost like it could've been appropriate later on in the film, or simply left on the cutting room floor. The rivalry between these two consists of tacked-on angry stares and forced disagreements. The hostility doesn't feel organic in the least bit. Consider, in contrast, the conflict between the two female characters in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. They were amiable towards each other, as much as you could subtly tell that there was an underlying discomfort, and the cattiness then starts taking place towards the climax, where it fits better, but it never feels like it's forced upon us. In BRIDESMAIDS, we're simply asked to believe that Helen is the villain and that's it. There's an attempt at the end to humanize her, but it involves the usual motions of the villain suddenly having a 180-degree attitude change and becoming a good person all of a sudden. This is too bad, because Rose Byrne is one hell of a terrific dramatic actress (see her in this year's INSIDIOUS), but she's stuck in a one-note villainous role here that doesn't allow her to shine like Kristen Bell did as the titular Sarah Marshall.

The second problem with BRIDESMAIDS is that it chooses to have a romantic subplot in which Annie seems to find potential for love in a nice cop she meets. The problem here is that there's little chemistry between the two lovebirds, and more importantly, this was unnecessary. There was more than enough material with all the wedding-related events, and this just feels like a way of fulfilling the apparent requirement that the lead MUST ALWAYS have a romantic interest in a film, which is clearly not true at all. Finally, my other quibble with the movie is that it does devolve occasionally into that hateful realm known as toilet humor, and I suspect the reason for its doing so is that it wants to say "Hey, look! Women in movies can engage in bodily functions too!" The problem is that I always fail to see the humor in said type of gross-out gags. Bodily functions simply aren't funny, whether they're carried out by a male or a female. I can't help but always get the feeling that they are inserted into movies whenever the filmmakers simply had no idea what else to put in as a joke, and for that, it reeks of laziness to me. I did appreciate the irony of having a group of women trying on bridal dresses and suddenly getting afflicted with food poisoning, because it offers a funny contrast between all the glamour and classiness we're used to seeing in these moments and the grossness that ensues, but it could've definitely been handled more tastefully.

All that aside, though, there's no denying that the majority of BRIDESMAIDS' running time consists of a hefty amount of humor. I still think that Kristen Wiig has the potential to do something extraordinary (in comedy or in drama, or even better, in a mixture of both), and while BRIDESMAIDS may not be at that level, it's definitely a good start. It sucked to see her so frequently relegated to supporting roles in which we couldn't get to see more of her hilarity, so if anything, I hope BRIDESMAIDS will be successful enough that it'll make Wiig a more marketable comedic figure in Hollywood. Melissa McCarthy's hoot of a supporting performance, though, won't soon be forgotten by me. This is the type of actress who can make you laugh even when she's not the center of attention in a scene in which two other people are talking and she's simply reacting to what is taking place.

BRIDESMAIDS may not achieve the above-average level of comedic quality as other films to which Judd Apatow has attached his name, but for those who have enjoyed those other films, there's a lot of that same mixture of humanity and raunchiness to be found here. Oh, and a warning: if you plan to wait for the DVD, make sure you don't confuse this film with BRIDE WARS, unless you're actually interested in a movie that features the same amount of "wedding cattiness" that we get in BRIDESMAIDS, minus the laughs.

6/10