Who Spoiled Bridesmaids?

Rating: 6/10 (31 May 2011)

I've had very mixed feelings about this movie from the first time I saw a poster for it in my local theater. On the one hand, I love Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig and I like raunch (like the scenes with John Hamm). OTOH, I hate scenes like the food poisoning scene. So, I wasn't going to go, but one of my husband's cousins (female) said it wasn't that disgusting so my daughter and I went.
We liked it, though the disgusting stuff was too much, there was enough funny stuff that the movie almost came together. My daughter tells me that Hangover 1 was less gross than Bridesmaids. I wish people would pay less attention to Judd Apatow.
The interesting thing was that most of the audience when we went to see it was women between the ages of 40 and 60 and a few men of about the same age. I figured the audience would have skewed much younger.
What made the movie work for me were the scenes like the brilliant staredown between Kristen Wiig and Rose Byrne, the generally sweet scenes between Kristen Wiig and Chris O'Dowd (what a cutie!), the scene where Wiig knows she must dump Hamm, and even the scene when she makes the incredible cupcake for herself, during a time when she's swearing to other people that she's no longer baking. And the scenes in the jewelry store - hysterical!
I was also happy to see Jill Clayburgh, even if I didn't recognize her at first (she died not long after the film was done).
Now, about Meghan - what bugged me about her was that she was written and performed like Rosie O'Donnell. Not all fat women, even not all Irish fat women, act like Rosie. But, I like that Meghan was quite successful and smart on her own, even if she was socially very awkward. I just wish every time someone decides it's OK to show fat people having sex, that food wasn't instantly involved.
As a writer and an actress, Kristen Wiig has huge potential. I just hope some guy doesn't ruin her next script. Bridesmaids wasn't ruined, but it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.