Drama Parts Actually Outshine the Funny Parts in this Comedy

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2011)

I am not really used to watching a comedy where all the main actors were women. This is especially if the comedy is Rated R, raunchy, and vulgar which we are more used to seeing with male actors. I do not even know any of the cast members in this movie very well. I just watched this because of its reputation as a sleeper comedy hit in the US.
In a very short summary, "Bridesmaids" could roughly be compared to a female version of "The Hangover" as all the character's misadventures lead up to a climactic wedding at the end. Basically it is about Annie (Kristen Wiig) whose best friend since childhood Lilian (Maya Rudolph) is about to get married. However, with all the unfortunate things (lost business, bad boyfriend, bad housemates) that were happening in Annie's life at that moment, even her friendship with Lilian was being strained by the pushiness of Lilian's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne) in one-upping Annie in the preparation for the wedding.
The funniest scene for me was when Annie was trying her darnedest to catch the attention of a cop to get him to help her look for Lilian. This scene really made Wiig shine in her physical comedy, really hilarious. Too bad though that lot of the other gags were quite awkward and uncomfortable to watch, especially the one in the bridal shop, that one of the plane to Vegas, or anything with Annie's jerk of a sex partner. Unfortunately these rather unfunny scenes took a very prolonged time.
Ironically for a movie that was supposed to be a raunchy comedy, the dramatic scenes were actually quite good. You can see in my summary of the story line that there is actually a very real conflict here that can try friendships. Everything after the funny scene I described above leading up to the charming ending was very good. I also sort of liked the surprise guest appearance during the wedding, a very nice touch.