Bridesmaids: A real, honest, hilarious celebration.

Rating: 10/10 (13 June 2011)

I know I'm a little late on reviewing this one, I was going to just axe my review altogether. However, Bridesmaids is a film that is simply too good to be ignored. The reason for this is because it so easily could have been a bad movie. It could have been fake, and unrealistic, it could have featured paper-thin characters with no depth. It could have had a lousy script, with PG-13-friendly antics and adventures. It could've featured ridiculous product placement, and could have involved no realistic conflict, with an even more unrealistic conclusion.
However, it really doesn't do any of these things.
Bridesmaids has a great line of actresses that make the cut, in every possible way, and proves that women can truly be funny, instead of portraying them, as they easily could have, as whiny bitches. Kristen Wiig is a comedic genius. She co-writes the script, alongside Annie Mumolo (who appears in the film as a jittery passenger on a plane, look for her), and these two ladies bring a hell of a lot to the table.
Kristen Wiig, while having written a beautifully nuanced script that's funny, yet relatable, and therefore, a bit sad, is the star of the show here. She plays Annie, a lovelorn, broke, and generally unhappy woman whose best friend is getting married, and asks her to be the maid of honor. Whilst dealing with the bizarre and expensive rituals that come with that duty, her life begins to unravel. Friends, love, work, and life, in general begin to blur, and the mistakes of her past become full circle. She's a genuine character, she's not a cliché. As are the rest of the woman in this terrific film.
Maya Rudolph (another SNL favourite) plays Wiig's best friend Lillian, who's in the middle of planning a wedding, and begins to drift from her lifelong best friend, Annie. Rose Byrne (who I love in Damages) has a surprisingly apparent comedic side, playing Helen, a member of the bridal party, who is Lillian's fiancée's boss's wife (or something like that), and she is essentially the woman who's (possibly inadvertently) trying to destroy Annie and Lillian's friendship.
Wendi McLendon-Covey (of Reno 911! fame), gives a hilariously deadpan performance as Rita, a relative who is sarcastic, embittered, and generally dissatisfied in her marriage and resents her three sons. She clicks with Becca (Ellie Kemper, of The Office), a newlywed, who is extremely enthusiastic about becoming a wife and mother, who claims to have been "so distraught" when she was single.
Rounding out the bridal party is Melissa McCarthy (of Gilmore Girls, and now Mike & Molly) as Megan, the groom's sister. She's the oddball of the group, being decidedly more rough-around-the-edges as the rest of the ladies. While she appears to be for this movie, what Zach Gilifinakis was in The Hangover, she is given room, as are the rest of the ladies, to make exciting, complex, and rewarding characters. But McCarthy is probably the funniest one of the bunch.
It's already being referred to as the woman's answer to "The Hangover", or "Hangover in Heels", which I don't agree with. First of all, I didn't really like "The Hangover". For me, it was impossible to root for those four jackasses who weren't genuine, and felt clichéd and ridiculous. While this film certainly has its crude sequences, it's more about friendship, and how to react to things that happen in life that are not ideal. It's about how a friendship can survive whatever punches that are thrown at it.
The fact that each of these ladies are given room to make great characters makes this film as good as it is. Given that they don't really whine, and they prove that women ARE funny, and can be hilarious, sets it apart from any other film like this, that has been made in the last decade. It also sets the bar for any R-rated American comedy to be released in 2011. Bring on the sequel.