Surprisingly Funny and Heartfelt!

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2011)

Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love. (C) Universal
When I saw the trailer for BRIDESMAIDS, I didn't see anything special with it. There were maybe a couple of good jokes in there but nothing really hilarious to make me wanna see it right away. However, after the end credits rolled from a prescreening I went to, I have to admit it: It's freaking hilarious! To put this into perspective, I don't like many modern comedies, so this is saying a lot. There was one sequence in the film that was so funny and so shocking that I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in a film EVER! To say that the trailer doesn't do the film justice is an understatement. However, on the up side, the trailer doesn't show the funniest jokes in the film like most trailers for comedies do these days (don't you hate it when that happens?).
And no. BRIDESMAIDS is not a chick flick. There are some raunchy scenes in here that you have NEVER seen in any other film before. Let's remember, this is a hard R-rated Judd Apatow production, so this film shouldn't be taken very lightly. It's not to say that BRIDESMAIDS is one of the best comedies of the decade. In fact, as much as I laughed throughout the film, it does slow down after the first hour with the second hour not being nearly as funny as the first. Still, I laughed out loud pretty frequently, which is a feat hard to pull off on someone like me.
BRIDESMAIDS is also pretty heartfelt. This is mostly due to the wonderful ensemble cast, who are all fantastic in their own way. Kristen Wiig FINALLY gets the chance to shine in a starring role! Honestly, this girl can carry a film on her own. Maya Rudolph was also great. Seeing the dialogue exchange between her and Wiig made their chemistry feel very authentic which is no surprise since they were in SNL together. It's also fun to see Rose Byrne in more comedic roles, who was also in GET HIM TO THE Greek and this year's sleeper hit, INSIDIOUS(!!).
I think an obvious audience favorite from the group of girls would be Melissa McCarthy. She provides some of the films biggest laughs and for a good reason. Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey are the remainders from the group and they were pretty good, but they aren't as prominent as the other girls. There are also some guys in the cast, most notably Chris O'Dowd and Jon Hamm. O'Dowd did a good job playing Wiig's love interest (and you can pretty much see where this is going...), and Hamm did well for the limited amount of screen time he had.
Sure, BRIDESMAIDS is predictable as hell but so are 99.9% of other modern comedies. However, it's strong proof that one can make a comedy about women without it ever being stupid, sexist, or mean-spirited. Overall, it's just plain old entertaining, hilarious, and heartwarming. Who knew? Also, with the "HANGOVER with girls" comparison, BRIDESMAIDS is a much funnier, insightful, and honest film than THE HANGOVER ever was.