2011 Films: #14 & 13

#14 Bridesmaids


"And...I'm sh**ting in the street."

As said by Lilly (Maya Rudolph) the bride-to-be, who has just scatted herself in her super expensive wedding dress, all thanks to maid of honor Annie (Kristin Wiig), who chose a Brazilian steakhouse for the girls to lunch at right before the dress fitting. This scene, in many ways, sums up Bridesmaids--a comedy meant for women that is not afraid to err on the side of gross-out humor and dude-like tendencies.

After Lillian gets question-popped, she immediately thinks to ask her best friend from childhood to be the maid of honor. Lillian has found love and success in Chicago, while back in Milwaukee, Annie has fallen apart. The bakery she opened ran itself into the ground, she lost all of her money and her long-term boyfriend, she lives with a strange British guy and his freeloading sister, she has a mediocre at best sex-buddy relationship with Ted (Mad Men's Jon Hamm), and she sells engagement rings for a living. She drives her clunker down to Lillian's house for the engagement party where she meets the rest of the gang: Helen (Rose Byrne), the snobbish wife of Lillian's fiancee's boss; Becca (Ellie Klemper from The Office), all naivete and bubbles; cousin Rita (Wendi McCloven-Covey), looking for any excuse to break away from her housewife life; and of course the fiancee's sister Megan (Oscar nominated Melissa McCarthy), who brings much of the film's charm and raunchiness. It becomes clear via a painfully hysterical toast to the bride-to-be that Annie is going to be in direct competition with Lillian's new best friend Helen, whether she likes it or not.

Whether it's who can be most scandalous, who can be drunkest, who can be better friend or who can make the biggest splash, all of the girls make it their goals to one-up each other. The envelope-pushing often works the audience towards uncomfortable hysterics. All six of the gals bring the A-game and form a solid group dynamic. Wiig shines especially, even at her lowest points, and there are plenty. Sometimes the Annie ennui gets to drag, and my usual complaint about Judd Apatow flicks--they're always 25 minutes too long--is as present as ever. But props to Wiig and her writing partner Annie Mumolo in their going for broke to make a comedy unlike any other this year.