Tuesday 24 May 2011

Movie Review - Bridesmaids

At the suggestion of some of my Facebook friends, I took my wife to see Bridesmaids the other night.  As I told the kids, it had been far too many years since I have seen a movie that was laugh-out-loud funny, can't catch your breath hilarious, hurt-my-sides laughing as I struggle to catch the dialogue in between snorts and guffaws.  It will be a few more, I fear.  Some FB comments indicated this would be that movie.  It was not.


GREAT:  Kristen Wiig as Annie and Chris O'Dowd as Rhodes.  She's funny, he's believably a vulnerable cop, and Melissa McCarthy is, as always, comedically impeccable.  Actually, the entire cast is great in their roles, which could have been spectacularly clever if the writers had just managed to stay away from "poop" jokes and unnecessarily bad language.  Seriously, these ladies don't need it.

GOOD:  The premise.  This ain't The Hangover for chicks.  They never make it to Vegas, thank goodness.  Probably the last thing I want to shell out $13 for is another full-length commercial for Las Vegas.  On the other hand, maybe a few situations other than Annie's ruining every moment not due to clutziness or awkwardness, but from jealousy of the Bride's new best friend.  This was less comedy and more a story of childhood friends drifting, nay, torn apart when one of them makes the commitment to marriage.

ROOM for GROWTH:  Judging by the forced laughter from the young "ladies" in the audience at every sex joke, fart joke and vomit joke, Producer Judd Apatow has hit his mark and has no need to pay attention to what guys like me think.  But if he did, I'd ask him to lay off the unnecessarily bad language.  The only time the bad language was perfectly timed and as a result funny, was when the step child tells his prissy "mom" to f-off.  It was completely uncalled for when Annie calls a young girl the c-word.  Seriously?  And this actress agreed to say that word?

Would I recommend this movie?  Only for what it could have been with some courage and better writing; only for those who just don't aspire to better.

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