Good Times

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2012)

I wasn't interested in this movie even though it was being billed as the female version of "The Hangover". I liked The Hangover, but the trailers just didn't make me want to watch this movie. I'm not prejudicial when it comes to chick flicks and I do watch them with an open mind, but most comedies which are female-oriented tend to be on the boring side in my honest opinion as a guy. After it surprisingly got nominated for 2 Oscars, I had to watch "Bridesmaids". To be frank, I have watched only 4 movies out of all the Oscar nominated movies including all the technical categories as well. But I saw this movie due to the fact that Oscars don't nominate comedies for Best Picture, EVER! The closest was "(500) Days of Summer" which I absolutely love to pieces. So my expectations for "Bridesmaids" was pretty high.
Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig) had to let go of her passion, the bakery because of the bad economy. She sleeps around with a guy who doesn't respect her, barely makes her payments, her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married to a rich guy and the race for maid of honor is on with Helen (Rose Byrne), the new bestie who seems to be perfect for the job in every aspect, which culminates in Annie screwing up everything that comes along her way.
First things first! The movie is highly overrated and didn't deserve its Best Picture nomination. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" is THE best comedy of 2011 and if any comedy had a right to be nominated for the Oscars, it was that amazing movie. Don't misunderstand me, I liked "Bridesmaids" and while I did enjoy it and laugh in many scenes, it plays it too safe. Secondly, I get that the movie is trying to send the message across to all of us guys that women aren't sex objects and we shouldn't objectify them. But the toilet humor was over the top and I always hate such cheap stuff. My real gripe is with the lead, Kristen Wiig. I love her in her SNL sketches, but I really didn't enjoy her character much in the movie. Annie was pathetic, unlikable and not even remotely funny most of the time! Which, in hindsight, was the way they wanted her character to go and so Wiig succeeded in that regard. Anyway, I didn't like nor care for her character one bit.
This movie has lots of stuff going for it though. Melissa McCarthy deserved her nomination as she was the one who got the most laughs and was perfect in her role. Her character could have come of as atrociously cheesy, but thankfully it doesn't. I don't think any female character has ever made me laugh so hard as much as Melissa's Megan did. The ensemble cast which involves the weird siblings, a little boy, the police officer, the bridesmaids themselves and others are fluid and really enjoyable. Girls will really like this movie, my friend was laughing like a maniac. All in all, this is one of the better comedies of the year and you should watch it, but don't expect it to blow your mind.
7/10