Good..not great

Rating: 6/10 (25 September 2011)

All I've heard all year is "Bridesmaids" is THE comedy to see, and it has been compared to "The Hangover" as the female companion.
This is a good comedy with some laugh out loud moments, but it's not the female version of "The Hangover". It's not even in the same arena. "Bridesmaids" is the combination of "My Best Friend's Wedding", elements of "The Hangover", some of Wiig's past skits from SNL, and Judd Apatow's(producer) willingness to bring gross out humor and insert it at the right moments.
Kristen Wiig gives an admirable performance as Annie, a down-on-her- luck friend of Lillian (Maya Rudolph) who is asked to be her maid of honor. Having very little resources and her life quite disorganized (she lives with an English brother and sister who bathe together), she is quickly upstaged by Lillian's upper-class friend Helen (Rose Byrne). Most of the early comedy lies within the battle of whom is the "true" friend to Lillian.
After eating bad food at a restaurant suggested by Annie, it is decided within the group of bridesmaids that Vegas will be the bachelorette party, which we don't get to see. I can't decide if the film avoided this because of "The Hangover", but the way this film has been discussed and promoted through several blogs you would have thought that Vegas was definitely in the screenplay for at least a couple of scenes. Anyhow, because of what happens we get to see the very best of the film's saving grace, the throw down in your face humor of Melissa McCarthy.
The film then drags unnecessarily through Annie staring at her failed business, her indecision to keep sleeping with an acquaintance and then a local police officer. This is where while trying to be sweet, the film becomes somewhat disjointed in its definition. Is this an all out laugh fest with the bridesmaids or is it the story of Annie getting her life together? I might add that we don't GET all the bridesmaids for a lot of screen time together, and I can't think of why focusing on all 6 for some sort of comedic adventure couldn't have been a funnier film.
Nevertheless, the film's heart is in the right place as Annie struggles to remain in the wedding at all (after a meltdown) and her life falls, as her mother (played by Jill Clayburgh) would say, to the absolute bottom. Again, we have a film titled "Bridesmaids" but it turns into the story of Annie. Thank goodness again for Melissa McCarthy, who offers herself as Annie's new close friend and with some coaching Annie finally gets "off the couch".
I give this movie favorable marks mainly due to McCarthy and Wiig's performances.While most audiences will enjoy the gross humor and the satisfying end, some of us are left wondering what this movie could have been. This film will stand on its own as a type of female "buddy" comedy with a wedding as a welcome distraction.