{"id":1448,"date":"2011-05-12T20:24:53","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T03:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1448"},"modified":"2011-05-12T20:32:04","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T03:32:04","slug":"review-bridesmaids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1448","title":{"rendered":"Review: BRIDESMAIDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Don\u2019t call it \u201cThe Hangover.\u201d \u201cBridesmaids\u201d might give the second coming of the wolfpack some competition. These girls really know how to throw down, showing the boys how the other half parties.<\/p>\n

In \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a late thirty-something in a bad relationship on the edge of financial ruin. When her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), gets engaged, Annie is the natural choice for maid of honor. But Annie might not be up to the challenge. After all, part of that job is being happy for the bride. And for Annie faking happiness for Lillian is just the start of her problems. <\/p>\n

While Wiig and Rudolph, both Saturday Night Live alums, get top billing here, this is Wiig\u2019s movie. She even serves as a co-writer with fellow Groundling sketch comedy actor Annie Mumolo. In fact, Rudolph\u2019s role is largely relegated to playing the straight-man to Wiig\u2019s out of control character. And Wiig is terrific, but the real reason the film works is because she has a great supporting cast. <\/p>\n

American audiences will likely fall hard for Irish actor\/comedian Chris O\u2019Dowd who plays Officer Rhodes, Annie\u2019s legitimate love interest in the film. O\u2019Dowd first came to my attention playing Roy in the extremely funny Channel 4 UK series \u201cThe IT Crowd.\u201d In \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d O\u2019Dowd brings his affable disposition to the role of Officer Rhodes who casually wins Annie\u2019s heart by playing one of the more grounded people in her life. And despite the odd swings in tone from slap-stick humor to melodrama, the film works due in no small part to supporting work by O\u2019Dowd and others.<\/p>\n

Stepping out in a big way is former \u201cGilmore Girls\u201d star Melissa McCarthy. Playing Megan, the sister of the groom, McCarthy makes for one exciting bundle of comedic energy. Always in motion, she approaches Megan non-stop delivering funny one-liners that will stick with you afterwards while engaging in a bit of physical comedy that begs to be seen. McCarthy (who I really liked in 2007\u2019s \u201cThe Nines\u201d opposite Ryan Reynolds) dominates almost every scene she is in and even carries us out in an end credit sequence that is as bizarre as it is hilarious.<\/p>\n

\u201cBridesmaids\u201d is produced by Judd Apatow who found great success with \u201cThe 40 Year Old Virgin\u201d and \u201cKnocked Up.\u201d Here Apatow has tapped fellow \u201cFreaks and Geeks\u201d collaborator Paul Feig to direct. But Apatow\u2019s touch is heavy in \u201cBridesmaids.\u201d Like his largely unsuccessful 2009 film \u201cFunny People\u201d with Adam Sandler, the film drags a bit in places, and it could be shorter\u2014running over 2 hours. And there are shots that just ought to be banned from ensemble comedies, in particular, that ubiquitous slow motion tracking shot of the pack of girls walking through an airport. Been there, seen too much of that. But \u201cBridesmaids\u201d has so many funny scenes that it can be forgiven for its excesses.<\/p>\n

As a springboard for comedian Wiig, \u201cBridesmaids\u201d is a good coming out film. She has been giving us great work for years\u2014she had a funny turn in Mike Judge\u2019s underrated 2009 film \u201cExtract,\u201d and she was very charming in \u201cPaul\u201d earlier this year. But Wiig\u2019s not the only one to reap \u201cMaids\u2019\u201d benefits as the supporting cast gives the story more weight. Comparisons to \u201cThe Hangover\u201d are inevitable and the sequel is just a couple weeks away, but \u201cBridesmaids\u201d is sweeter and places more emphasis on the dramatic elements. The wolfpack might be on their way back, but this weekend, the girls could steal a bit of their laughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan thinks the wolfpack has something to worry about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1448"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}