Comedy heavy on the drama

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2012)

The most surprising thing about this supposedly female version of "The Hangover" (and "The Hangover II" which was apparently the same movie) is how much it is not a female version of "The Hangover". While to some degree a raunchy comedy, the movie deals more with the complexities of female relationship and dealing with personal failure in life more similar to Alexander Payne's "Sideways". The movie take a long, well- informed look at the waning process of longstanding female relationships as well as female rivalry. The rivalry between Wiig's Annie Walker and a far more successful suitor for her best friend since grade school Lilian (Maya Rudolph)is the better developed with very funny scenes of one-ups- manship (or one-ups-womanship). Annie's coming-apart-at-the-seams development after she loses first a bakery business, boyfriend and eventually her best friend is also interesting to watch. You cannot blame Lilian's or Chris O'Dowd's character turning their back on her as her behavior gets more and more erratic. While the strong plot carries the movie, there are some very distracting problems. Wisconsin looks nothing like Southern California where a lot of it was shot. State policemen act nothing like Officer Rhodes and would quickly get fired if they did. Melissa MacCarthny's Megan, which got her an academy nom largely to make the group seem less stuffy, makes no sense. Is she supposed to be the Zach Galifianakis screw-up from "The Hangover" or the international spy we hear about towards the end of the film. Wendy McLendon-Covey's Rita is an interesting character given that she foreshadows the miserable life that Maya's character (who seems a little old to be getting married for the first time) is destined for later down the road. The film does have some surprisingly darker moments before the obligatory ending dance number. In short, more substance here than you have been lead to believe although there are some genuinely funny moments.