Bridesmaids

Less enthusiastic about BRIDESMAIDS than most, I resisted the film because it knew what it was trying to accomplish, and that was an intent separate from good filmmaking. Beginning arrogantly (in the same manner as last year's horrid PLEASE GIVE) with loud, rambunctious sex scenes with its lead Kristen Wiig, the film establishes itself (with a mostly all female cast) to be a film perpetuating the existence of feminist films. Later in the film, women shit and barf all over the place at a bridal shop after having some bad Indian food (as if to say that, hey, women can shit and barf too and we can make it just as disgusting). However, BRIDESMAIDS is a good film despite its male director's and male producer's intent. This is largely due to the strength of the cast, and even some credit must be given to the director. Wiig, who is so obnoxious on "Saturday Night Live", is here pleasant and very funny. Her character Annie, a self-conscious, thirty-something dead end, only has her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) to look to for any consolation. Her mother is no help, she has an asshole boyfriend, and she opened an expensive cake shop in the middle of the recession. Annie is then piled on with the task from Lillian of being her maid of honor at her wedding. At first thrilled, Annie continues to systematically ruin every aspect of Lillian's wedding, and has an intense rivalry with the very funny Rose Byrne as Helen. Consisting in tv-ish form of good individual scenes that reveal themselves to be set-ups without payoffs (everyone gets on a plane to go to Vegas, nobody ends up going to Vegas), BRIDESMAIDS with its funny lead, great cast, and funny writing, is still a good comedy in spite of its shortcomings.
Bridesmaids: ★★★