For an independently produced comedy that mostly revolves around adults talking to each other — sometimes with child accessories — in varying degrees of inebriation, Friends with Kids is finding a modest amount of success. It’s not perfect, but somehow it manages to be funny without any accidental drug trips, grandmas shooting guns at the dinner table, or Tom Cruise rescuing Cameron Diaz from a crashing plane. Writer-director-co-star Jennifer Westfeldt has returned us a bit to the days of comedies of manners, instead of the awful dichotomy between shrill “romantic” comedy and Apatovian gross-out comedy where Hollywood seems stuck these days. In that spirit, here are four lessons future adult comedies should take from Friends with Kids.
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Stephanie Zacharek's review pretty much confirmed this, but! For the record, Dear Consumer: "The advertisements emphasize the Bridesmaids pseudo-reunion, making it look like it's a rollicking comedic romp with Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph, and Chris O'Dowd all just giggling and making silly faces. [...] Those four, the Bridesmaids folk, they really don't have much to do other than pop in every 20 minutes or so to comment on the action, a sort of Greek chorus surrounding our two heroes. It's also worth noting that none of them is actually funny, by design. You know that scene you've seen the commercial where Wiig and Hamm sneak out of the restaurant bathroom, post coitus? That's in the first five minutes of the movie, right before a 'Four Years Later' insert. Wiig spends the rest of the film crying into various glasses of wine while Hamm yells at her. It's a real laugh riot." [Deadspin]
This year's Oscars may have average nominee ages of 47, 61 and 62 in such categories as Actor, Director and Supporting Actor (respectively), but trust producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer to rope in the youngs where they can. To wit: If the Academy won't nominate the four-quadrant blockbuster
Bridesmaids for Best Picture, then at least the cast can drop by to present an award.
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Indie auteur Paul Thomas Anderson and Bridesmaids star Maya Rudolph welcomed son Jack on July 3, Rudolph's rep confirmed today to People. Baby Jack makes three kids for Anderson and Rudolph, joining daughters Pearl and Lucille in the brood of one of Hollywood's most unlikely-sounding (but awesome) pairings. Congrats, parents! [People]
How did Rose Byrne become the most unexpected comedic actress of her generation? After 15 years of acting, the Aussie native broke out of her dramatic shell with a fearless turn as Aldous Snow's pop star ex in Get Him to the Greek, and this week's Bridesmaids continues the streak: Byrne plays Helen, the rich and beautiful new BFF who tries to steal Maya Rudolph away from maid of honor Kristen Wiig. As director Paul Feig insisted to Movieline, "That woman should always be doing comedy."
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