Wiig and Company Deliver Honest Laughs in a Freewheeling, Character-Driven Farce

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2011)

What I appreciate most about Kristen Wiig's comedy style on SNL is her refusal to pander to an audience. Portraying her gallery of solipsistic eccentrics week after week, she's never afraid to be unsympathetic because she exposes a truth that is smart and funny. Translating her gift to the big screen proves to be surprisingly fortuitous with her breakout 2011 comedy, which has already been dubbed the distaff version of the alpha-male mega-hit, 2009's "The Hangover". They share an ensemble approach, a sometimes raunchy sense of humor, and the context of an upcoming wedding but little else. What you won't mistake this movie for is one of those dreary rom-coms starring invariably Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, or Jennifer Aniston.
Co-written by Wiig and fellow Groundlings alumnus Annie Mumolo and breezily directed by Paul Feig ("The Office"), this is a sharp, character-driven farce freed from chick-flick predictability and showing the unmistakable fingerprints of co-producer Judd Apatow all over it. The plot centers on thirtysomething Annie Walker who is not in the best place in her life. Deep into debt after losing the cake shop she owned with a boyfriend who subsequently abandoned her, she is already a bit unstrung when her childhood best friend Lillian gets engaged. She names Annie her maid of honor, but there's competition for the coveted role from Lillian's new bestie, the wealthy and pretentious Helen. Much of the storyline focuses on the tension between Annie and Helen over Lillian's preferential attention until the wedding day. Within this context, much of the humor comes from the preposterous excesses that come from the "wedding industrial complex" with Helen obviously having the resources to fund them including a ludicrously over-the-top Paris-themed shower.
Along for the ride are the three other bridesmaids - Lillian's cousin Rita, a sex-starved mother of three; Becca, a newlywed who pities Annie for her single state; and Megan, the groom's unfiltered, adventure-seeking sister. Needless to say, things don't go according to plan (the diuretic bridal shop scene is a hoot), and the shenanigans are underlined by the obvious rift occurring between two best friends when one moves on with her life. Beyond her comedy set pieces (e.g., her increasingly hilarious efforts in attempting to get a traffic citation), Wiig turns out to be a resourceful actress as Annie and dials back her trademark neurotic lunacy just enough to make Annie's dilemmas humanly relatable. As Lillian, SNL alumnus Maya Rudolph ("Away We Go") has less to do but does it with warmth and wit. Rose Byrne, who showed deft comic chops in "Get Him to the Greek", captures the haughtiness and insecurity in Helen with élan.
However, stealing scenes with sheer abandon is a makeup-free Melissa McCarthy who plays Megan with such balls-to-the-wall force that it's hard not to respond to her uncompromised honesty. Her character is arguably the most mentally stable of the bunch. Wendy McLendon-Covey ("Reno 911") and Ellie Kemper ("The Office") have their moments as sarcastic Rita and naive Becca, but they aren't given much screen time to flesh out their funnier bits. Jon Hamm ("Mad Men") really nails the blistering albeit charming indifference that his character Ted shows toward Annie's romantic longings, while Irish actor Chris O'Dowd proves likeably puppyish as her burgeoning love interest, a traffic cop constantly reprimanding her for not fixing her brake lights. In her final film appearance, the wonderful Jill Clayburgh is sweetly amusing as Annie's whimsically off-kilter mother. It all runs a bit too long at 125 minutes with the resolutions a bit pat, but still, this is one of the funniest movies of the year.