Um, how about how funny and real this was? Yeah. That’s a positive for you, Judd freakin’ Apatow. Boom.
Just as a preface-please note that I have ovaries and boobs. This review? Is coming from a woman.
So some continuity errors aside, Bridesmaids made me incredibly happy. And not just because of those terrible posters that go ‘Chick Flicks don’t have to suck!’ in that oh so condescending way. I think what they should be saying is that Chick Flicks? Should be written by Chicks, and be ABOUT Chicks. Our lives, our decisions, and the fact that our lives don’t actually revolve around the male love interest.
Which is how we meet Annie (Wiig). She’s John Hamm’s fuck buddy, and frankly, I’d hate myself too if I ever ended up in that situation. So close, yet so far away...sigh. Oh well. That’s just how it goes, really. And it often is a trap we find ourselves in, so yay! Also? Sex, especially bad, selfish sex, where all you want to do is look good and end up wearing your bra for the duration of? Is ugly. And hilarious. Especially when John Hamm just completely destroys every Down There Feeling women in the cinema previously had of him with his face alone. Sorry ladies.
...ok, so the white wine stereotype exists because white wine is awesome, ok?
So Annie is stuck with having a crap job, crap roommates (who were great side-line characters, by the by.), and the memory of her doomed, beloved bakery where everything was cake and nothing hurt. But that’s where Lillian (Rudolph), Best Friend Extraordinaire comes in. Lillian and Annie have what I can only describe as the sort of Best Friendship that, well...I have. With my Best Friend(s-I have more than one, sorry). Which is what helped seal the deal on this film for me. If I were a nun and this film wanted to have sex with me, Annie and Lillian’s scene in the cafe would have been what sold me into flipping up my skirts.
Oh, that was kind of rude. Right? But it’s true. Come now.
Annie and Lillian have an actual friendship. They aren’t just caricatures of what women might just be. There’s nothing about them to fall into any given category most films like to insist upon, and again, that is what makes this film so great. And because it’s not just women loving this film for actually holding up a mirror and not just a poster of Megan Fox with glasses on, but men as well, I can only hope and wish and pray (if, as a hypothetical nun, I hadn’t left the church) that this trend continues.
But what I want to say is...they’re best friends, they have their own in-jokes, and like normal people, they make each other laugh. They’re not those people we see on screen who are apparently friends, but never seem to enjoy hanging out together (unless it’s an incredibly loud montage of them getting drunk at clubs or whatever), making wry quips about life and making us-the audience-laugh while they continue to live a humourless existence.
I should probably try and talk about the rest of the film, right(Lillian gets married, hence the title of the film)? Or rather, what I liked about it, that kind of thing? Ok, cool.
Wooooooooo drunk wimmennssss!!!!
Ok, so I liked how the male roles were minor, and not as well developed as the female leads were. Maybe one day I’ll change my mind about this, but it’s happened so very often to sidekick-girlfriends and tag-along women in male-dominated films, so let’s just call this even, shall we? Well, not even yet. While we’re on the topic of the men in this film, can we talk about the adorable Irishness of Chris O’Dowd? Yes, when auditioning he had an American accent, but for some reason, they decided to leave him be in his Irish brogue and create a plot-hole we’ve all agreed to ignore in favour of admiring his adorableness. Plus, I feel like him being...not North American somehow adds something to the film overall.
Just a little added quirk, if you will.
And what was spectacular about the male presence in this film is how it wasn’t a guy Annie had just met who pulled her out of what her self-pity when things took a turn for the worse. No, it was a fellow bridesmaid, whom she considered a friend, and who knew what Annie needed to get going again. To move on, so to speak. That was nice. Women in a film, supporting each other? What is this tomfoolery you speak of!?
Who knew lilac was so vomit-inducing?
Terrible paragraph up there.
Ok, ok, there was one more thing I wanted to say about this film before I finally (FINALLY) posted this review...umm. Um. Uh. Damnit, why isn’t this coming to me? I should’ve taken notes. No, seriously, it’s gone. Maybe I’ll have to come back and do a part two...eh. Probably not.
Basically, go see this film. If you haven’t already. I actually saw this like, last week or something earlier than that, but I’ve just been a little lazy in writing this review out. Sorry about that. But you! You there! Yes, you in Spain (and the rest of the countries listed below it on the IMDb release list). Go see it when it’s released! I promise, it works.
OH WAIT-hold the fucking phone, I remember what I wanted to say. This probably isn’t going to be worth it. Anyway-there’s this moment in the film where all I could think was ‘yes...yes...YES!’ because when the audience laughed and cheered along with Annie getting angry at that particular moment, and how she took it out on her surroundings, all I could think was how people (men, mainly) were actually understanding what she was going through. No, seriously-if you had a penis and was only an onlooker, you just would not have understood why she reacted in such a way. I don’t know why, but that moment struck such a chord with me, because it’s what I’ve been through, and seen my girl friends go through, and then when our guy friends go ‘uh...why, exactly did you demand she take off the sweater you loaned her not ten minutes ago again in a rage?’, you just cannot explain it.
Well, you can, but you almost always end up sounding like a psycho.
She will kill you. Bitch.
Go see Bridesmaids!
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