Friday, October 21, 2011

Friday Night Movie Review 8! Battle of the Bridesmaids!

Not many of us saw movies this week, but - thanks to a tear in the space/time continuum - the two contributors who did send in reviews just happened to send in reviews for the same film! AND WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT!? Cats and dogs! Living together! Mass hysteria! Seriously - this is spooky!

So welcome to the Fruitless Pursuits Bridesmaids Vs. Bridemaids Battle Royale! Five bridesmaids enter! Only one bridesmaids leave! Two grown men battle it out to see which of their opinions are more valid in the discerning eyes of you, the ridiculously attractive, reader!

Who will reign victorious? Join me after the jump to find out!

Stryder Wolfe:

So this week's movie is Bridesmaids starring Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph amongst many others. I know it's a chick-flick but it was sold on me as sort of a Hangover for girls, so I wanted to check it out.  Turns out, it totally wasn't that movie at all.  Instead, it was a movie about an insecure blonde girl who's life is crap and who's best friend from high school is getting married to a rich kid. The best friend has another friend and there's a lot of jealousy and competition between her and the blonde girl to see who gets to be the maid of honour and true bearer of the title "best friend forever". It's pretty inane. "B" plot involves the plucky overweight girl who speaks bluntly and is down to earth and her quest to be friends with the insecure blonde girl for some reason. She also gets a lot of dogs. Oh and finally, the secretary from "The Office" and some OTHER blonde lady get drunk on an airplane and make out a little bit. This was much more in keeping with the movie *I* wanted to see but sadly, it didn't really go anywhere or get followed up on in any memorable way. What can you do. 

Oh I totally forgot! To complicate matters even more the insecure blonde girl has a weird relationship with a booty-call guy and has to choose between him and a super-cute, super-nice cop. It's not a difficult decision but it takes her forever to make it.  She's really not very bright. Of course it all works out in the end (spoiler, spoiler). So I guess I didn't have a very high opinion of Bridesmaids. There were a few laughs but in the end I just wasn't the target audience at ALL.  C'est la vie.

J. Tagmire

Bridesmaids wasn't exactly what I thought it would be... and it definitely wasn't the movie that was advertised. Not as much of a group/buddy film, as it was a film about Kristin Wiig's character Annie and her descent from Bride of Honor / Best Friend / Happy Person to Not-Bride of Honor / Not-Best Friend / Not-So-Happy Person. I loved that part of the film. But every time it dipped into Bridesmaidsey territory and the whole raunch comedy thing, it felt like a different film.

Deep down, there is this solid story about a woman who goes through a rough patch where she is struggling to be the cool best friend, and she meets a police officer and starts a relationship and suddenly both aspects of her life spiral downhill together. Even with a wedding setting, this is still working for me.

But then it feels like a second writer/producer got involved and said, "DUDES. The Hangover was HUGE. This could be The Hangover but with WOMEN instead of MEN. $$$$"

A few rewrites later and we are all confused.

And I'm definitely not saying that it's bad. Kristen Wiig's character pulled me along her every move (including a wonderful public breakdown scene). Melissa McCarthy's character Megan could carry her own film (SPOILERS - I'm talking about you, end credit sequence). The heart of the story is there, as well as a chunk of the comedy (air marshal, fuckbuddy, reckless driving) but I think it really lacks direction. The subtlety in the editing and performances, mixed with vomit/shit jokes and over the top advertising doesn't feel like a perfect match to me. I wish they picked one (NOT THE SHITTY ONE) and went with it. If so, I'd probably be watching it again already.

SO there you have it folks! Who was the winner! Why, clearly the winner was YOU!

1 comment:

  1. Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, directed by Paul Feig (ETERNALLY MY GOD FOR CREATING FREAKS AND GEEKS AND WRITING KICK ME) - I SO wanted to love this movie. But it just didn't really come together.

    It's not the worst film I've ever seen, and it's still a cut above pretty much every chick flick I've been unable to avoid sitting through for whatever reason, but it could have been a lot better.