REVIEW: Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne
½ (out of 5)

Bridesmaids is a raunchy comedy about a bridal party in the lead up to a wedding - and may set alarm bells ringing in the minds of many movie watchers. That’s fair enough, but if you’re thinking Sex and the City meets Bride Wars - don’t. Both those movies are utter rubbish and Bridesmaids is brilliant.

It’s the sort of movie I wish there was more of - a smart but filthy female-centric comedy. The characters are an eclectic mix of non-clichéd, very genuine feeling women. It’s written and co-produced by Kristen Wiig, who also has the lead role, and it should hopefully be the start of a marvelous new phase of her career. Bridesmaids does a great job of capturing the weird politics of platonic female relationships. It’s something like a female version of a bromance movie, but is funnier than most bromance flicks by quite some margin.

Wiig stars as Annie, a former cake connoisseur working in retail after her man left and her own business went under. She is sleeping with a callous fuck buddy and generally living a fairly unhappy life. When Annie’s best friend Lillian tells her she’s getting married - and wants her to be the maid of honour - Annie is forced to become friends with the rest of the bridal party, including Helen, a seemingly perfect woman intent on stealing Lillian away as her own best friend. Hilarity ensues.

The laugh-per-minute rate is way up, the obligatory dramatic third act with its happy ending is handled in a way that felt mostly natural, and is ultimately very satisfying.

Easily one of the best comedies of the year.

Bridesmaids Trailer
 

By Daniel Rutledge