Adelaide-girl relocated to Melbourne. Healthy obsession with live music, film and performance, whiskey, wine and gin, Mexican food, brunch.
Published June 14th 2011
Bridesmaids is the latest offering from producer Judd Apatow (Superbad, Knocked Up, The 40-year old Virgin) which should tell you everything you need to know. If you liked those films, you'll probably like this. If you didn't like them - you might want to watch this anyway.
Bridesmaids offers the same "rude" humour and slightly uncomfortable scenes as Steve Carrell's chest wax, but this time, it's all about women. The film features bride-to-be Lillian (Maya Rudolph). Her best friend and maid of honour is Annie (Kristen Wiig). And Annie is falling apart.
Annie's lost her boyfriend and her job. She might lose her apartment soon, and her self-respect is barely hanging on. What Annie needs is to feel like she's not a complete failure at life. Instead, she meets Helen (Rose Byrne) - who is perfectly perfect in every perfect way, and is threatening to take over the maid of honour duties, and usurp Annie's best friend throne. Cue jealously, cattiness and overly dramatic freak outs.
This might sound like just another 'chick flick,' but what saves Bridesmaids from being utterly clichéd is the dialogue, the fresh faces and the ensemble acting between Lillian and her five bridesmaids.
Sharp and funny, the script accurately shows how best girl friends interact. There's sarcasm, silly voices, vulnerability and brutal honesty.
The bridesmaids are an oddball collection of women who are disturbing, hilarious and adorable. The side stories between these women are entertaining in their own right, and help to pepper the 125 minutes with laugh out loud and/or cringe in your seat moments.
While the bridesmaids as actors have a reputable collection of screen credits (including The Office (US), Saturday Night Live and yes, Heartbreak High for Aussie Rose Byrne), there's no-one here that you've seen in a leading role of a mainstream film. You may come away from this wanting to see more of each woman in the likes of Away We Go and Somewhere.
And of course there's a man in the movie who may or not play a love interest (fans of The IT Crowd will be pleased).
I saw this at a sold-out advance screening and I've never heard such loud collective laughter before. Bridesmaids removes the 'Madonna' image from women and shows how we can be just as crude, sexual and sarcastic as men. And that it's OK.
Bridesmaids was released in the USA on May 13, in Australia on June 16 and in the UK on June 24, 2011.
I got dragged along to watch Bridesmaids by my wife last weekend. I wasn't looking forward to the experience, but I ended up being very pleasantly surprised. There's just as much in this movie to keep the husbands/boyfriends entertained as there is for women. Definitely worth watching.
By Tim Falk - senior reviewer Friday, 24th of June @ 02:34 am
glad you enjoyed it Tim! your wife has good taste :)
By Anonymous Friday, 24th of June @ 02:36 am
I wasn't expecting too much from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself pretty much laughing the entire time. Perfect cast for a great movie. I'll definitely be buying this on DVD when it's released. Hopefully it comes with hilarious commentary for all the cast members.
By Daniella - senior reviewer Tuesday, 4th of October @ 03:22 pm
