REVIEW: Kristen Wiig Deserves a Better Showcase Than Crass, Overlong Bridesmaids
That's disappointing for lots of reasons: Both Wiig and Rudolph are enormously gifted comic actresses who haven't yet had starring roles. (For women, there aren't many to go around.) But in Bridesmaids, they fatten up on the funny stuff instead of paring it down to the necessary sharpness. Wiig has some strange, silly-fun little moments, as when the scheming Helen forces her -- even as she's fighting the effects of that food-poisoning -- to eat one of those almonds encased in a hard sugar shell. Wiig's doll-face eyes betray a particular kind of horror, capturing that moment when proximity to a toilet bowl suddenly becomes the dearest thing in life.
But Bridesmaids doesn't serve Wiig well, even though she co-wrote it. Come to think of it, maybe that's why it doesn't serve her well. The movie is uncharitable toward too many of its characters, only to turn around and tell us -- perhaps so we don't go home feeling sour -- that they're really OK after all. Why not just let us enjoy Helen's subterranean bitchiness (and Rose Byrne's superb timing), instead of puffing up her huggability in the movie's last minutes? Then again, other characters never even get that chance at redemption: Annie is saddled with a strange pair of brother-sister roommates whose chief character traits are their stupidity and/or their fatness.
The whole thing gets wrapped up in a feel-good taffeta bow (complete with a Wilson Phillips anthem). But Bridesmaids never answers the question of why we need to be led to that feel-good moment in the first place. The picture hammers away at Annie's insecurities, her awkwardness, kicking into overdrive to make her seem pathetic, so her ultimate romantic triumph will be that much more cathartic. I thought we got enough of that in the '90s (with Sandra Bullock and her droopy sweater sleeves in While You Were Sleeping), and here, Wiig shoulders the burden uneasily. As much as I've wished for a big, starring role for her, I've enjoyed her so much more in smaller ones: As a spray-tan obsessed doctor in David Koepp's Ghost Town, or as the loopy nerd-girl runaway in Gregg Mottola's recent Paul. Wiig's timing is the brilliant, wayward kind: Her jokes don't hit directly; they take a wobbly stroll through the universe first, winging their way around this or that planet before landing back on earth. Bridesmaids doesn't make the most of that gift; it just draws more exclamation marks around it, which isn't the same thing.
RELATED: Read Movieline's interview with Bridesmaids director Paul Feig here.
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Why did they ask our spinster aunt to review this? If you are surprised to find crassness within a female-centric Hangover rip-off, I don't know what you were expecting. It's an understood quality of it. It's like deducting points from Dude, Where's My Car for "having all that stoner humor".
and did this grumpster just spoil the pop group reveal everyone else on movieline has been avoiding spoiling for everyone? they even redacted the name in the paul feig interview. grumpy grumpy pants.
You used a very poor analogy comparing this film to the known classic, "Bride of Frankenstein." Perhaps you should have compared the film to, ahem, "Naked Lunch."
I really feel the collective unconscious of our culture is about to 'out' how restrictive women's roles have been. Film stories, too. Themes...
Kudos for this article, BTW.
You know, I haven't yet seen this movie, but I did edit this review, and I would never have deduced that spoiler had you not given away the context of the "anthem." I thought it was just a soundtrack choice. Now nobody wins!
i haven't seen the movie either, just making a point. the band name jumped out at me after reading feig's interview earlier today. i don't KNOW it's a spoiler, i was asking a legitimate question: "did this grumpster...".
Yay! I can't wait to see it
Great review. I didn't like this movie either. It certainly wasn't funny.
I loved Bridesmaids. I thought it was approximately 1,000 times funnier and more endearing than The Hangover, which had no character development or real plot whatsoever (and is no comparison). I'm disappointed to hear the critic opine that she thought it had crappy roles for women, because I thought just the opposite: Annie, in particular, reacted hilariously and poignantly to so many real-life problems, like having your dreams fail, having sex with flaky men, being poor, feeling bad comparing yourself to rich and beautiful women, and watching your friends grow apart. I enjoyed the reveal of Helen's pathos, because it made her more than a simple villain, and by the same token I really enjoyed Megan trying to connect with Annie and get her to suck it up. Not everyone got fleshed out, but I can say that I cared about and related to them, meaning, at least for this woman right here, that it did an excellent job giving women a chance to shine, and not just be man-props. I also feel like Paul Feig is tremendously under served by not mentioning he created "Freaks and Geeks," another comedy/drama mix with a great female protagonist.
You are correct, Steph, about Bridesmaids, in that it contains numerous entertaining moments, but fails as a cohesive whole - not because particular scenes drag on but that there are too many of them. This, rather than the crassness, I think, is the injurious blow landed by Apatow's otherwise magnanimous involvement. He can't boil down a script to its essence (see: his own movies), and so we see whole scenes illustrating: where she lives, her relationship with her mother, her failed ambition to bake! Thus the movie goes on forever (1 hr and 57 min.). And too were left with all these tonal shifts that feel awkward - are we really supposed to feel the cop is just a sweet winsome guy when he arranges for her to bake after they spent the night together? All I could think was - oh, shit, another creep. And, as you indicated, we don't even get to enjoy Helen's comeuppance, because they never commit to her insidiousness. They did it better in the Olsen Twins movie It Takes Two! Really. Take a look.
This is awesome to come back and read what a totally off base jerkwad the reviewer was.
I only came to this site to see what moron gave Bridesmaids a "C" on Fandango.com. Evidently, Stephanie, you've never experienced ANY of the hilarity that comes from close female friendship. While the characters portrayed the extreme to appeal to the "Hangover" audience, they were very REAL. The attachment Annie felt for her life-long best friend and the angst over fear of losing her and losing direction in her own life was very easy to relate to. But thanks for writing this horrible, curmudgeon-esque review. I'll be sure to NEVER read anything ever penned by you!
I agree with Firebrand. Great review, this movie was not funny. And yes, Sue,
I have experienced great female friendships and wild times with those friends at college in the '70s. Annie was a pathetic character. This movie was a waste of my time and money.
In the 70s???? That was 40 years ago and the times have changed. Relationships between women have also changed.
To my mind, Wiig is outrageously good. I have a love-hate thing for her on SNL, but here she gives one of the great comedic performances of all time. Somewhere up there with Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and Monroe in Some Like it Hot. Classic!
Megan was my favorite character from Bridesmaids. She made me laugh the most because I have a friend just like her! Crazy and I know if I ever am down she is going to slap sense into me! I’ve been using the Blockbuster Movie Pass for a while now to rent movies and being able to rent DVDs and Blu-Rays like Bridesmaids whenever I want is one of the best advantages about it. I can even stream many different movies if I choose right to my TV or computer! Whether or not I worked for DISH, I would still have and use the Blockbuster Movie Pass. There is more than I could ever watch whenever I want. I hope to see both Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy more in the future!
annie really deserves a slap. she's irritating and spoilt.