Great Comediennes, Excruciating Movie

Rating: 2/10 (7 July 2012)

What do Bridesmaids and the Passion of the Christ have in common? Actually, quite a lot:
They are both wildly successful. They are both extremely painful to watch. And finally, neither is really a movie, for different reasons. Passion is a slow-motion torture of Jesus Christ, filmed from every possible angle, as the basis and justification for why you should believe in Christianity. Which to my mind misses the whole point of Jesus' message, as does Mel Gibson apparently, based on his behavior.
Bridesmaids really can't be described as a film either, at least in the sense of structure, plot, and acting. I am not being facetious. Watching this film, I started getting the very depressed feeling that I had seen its style before. And then it hit me that I had; in every Will Ferrell movie. Ferrell's movies aren't written; they're improvised. And Ferrell doesn't act; he improvises. Which is why I can never see another of his films until he changes. I wasn't surprised when I saw the outtakes of Bridesmaids: Outtake after outtake of unused improvised scenes, exactly like every Will Ferrell movie. Why should I sit down and write out a screenplay with characters, plot and dialog, and then to create a believable character, when I can improvise it in five minutes? Unfortunately this trend is spreading. Watching this film, I recognized many "improv exercise" scenes I used to see and perform in theaters: especially the "top this" exercise, which makes up the majority of scenes in this movie, which go on and on until it becomes torture. When you see them live at a theater, they can be funny if forgettable. In a movie, it falls flat and is painful. I felt relieved at the end of the film, not anything else. I had to go do something fun after-wards. I have seen Kristen Wiig do some very funny things live, so I know she can perform. Whether she can create a complex and believable character based on an actual script, and not an improvisation, is yet to be seen. I hope I do see it, because I think she can.
But I hope I never, ever see another "improvised movie" again. Unfortunately, since audiences to go see them and they are much easier to make than an actual scripted film that is acted, there will be more of them. Too bad...