'Dick and Fart Jokes' Chick Flick Style!

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2011)

'BRIDESMAIDS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Judd Apatow tries his style of raunchy yet emotional comedy/drama with a chick flick by producing this Kristen Wiig vehicle (an 'SNL' and supporting film player vet). Wiig stars in the film as well as co-wrote it with comedian Annie Mumolo. Apatow's buddy Paul Feig (who created the popular short run TV series 'FREAKS AND GEEKS', which Apatow also produced) directed the film. It co-stars Maya Rudolph (a fellow 'SNL' vet), Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Chris O'Dowd. The film tells the story of a woman going through a midlife crisis at the same time that her best friend is getting married. Most of the film's big laughs come from the type of vulgar and crude humor you usually only see in guy movies, which is a nice change of pace and ballsy. The film isn't quite as consistently hilarious as Apatow's best films but for the most part it works and it does have the touching emotional aspect that Apatow films are known for as well (which it actually does a better job of delivering).
Wiig plays Annie, a down on her luck jewelery store clerk who had recently attempted to follow her dreams and open a bakery. Despite Annie's great cooking talents the bakery failed due to the recession (she says). She's also had a lot of poor luck with men and is constantly treated like merely a f--- buddy by the pretty boy she wishes was her boyfriend (Jon Hamm). When her best friend Lillian (Rudolph) tells her she's getting married and asks her to be her maid of honor she falls deeper into depression and despair. Things are complicated further when a rivalry grows for Lillian's affection between Annie and Lillian's new good friend Helen (Byrne, looking more stunning than ever), who's also the rich beautiful wife of Lillian's fiancé's boss.
The movie has plenty of hilarious moments, including some of the raunchiest and most vulgar dick and fart jokes of any comedy recently, but at times the jokes tend to stretch on too much and lose a lot of their momentum. The movie is way too long for a slapstick romantic comedy (at a whopping 2 hours and 5 minutes!) and some of the vulgar jokes are almost too grotesque to even sit through (at least for me, I had an extremely hard time stomaching this movie). When it is funny it works though and Wiig is very impressive in the lead. The rest of the cast is more than adequate as well (especially Byrne, McCarthy and O'Dowd). The emotional drama of the film is surprisingly what works best about it, it really feels true and heartfelt (especially the relationship between Annie and a friendly police officer (O'Dowd). While the movie isn't quite as good as Apatow's best it's still an impressive achievement and hopefully will help pave the way for more female driven crude comedies to set new ground in the future.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj550csrEQk