Maid of Dishonor

Bridesmaids
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy
Released: May 13, 2011
Viewed in theaters: May 19, 2011

Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Rose Byrne, Wendi
McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig

This movie has been referred to as "the female Hangover" which I guess I can understand because, much like The Hangover, Bridesmaids is a R-rated raunchy comedy that takes place before a wedding but stars all women instead of men. Of course, there is more to this movie than just laughs and dirty jokes.

Annie (Wiig) is at a point in her life where nothing seems to be going right for her. Her bakery has gone out of business and she now (unsuccessfully)  sells jewelry, she's seeing a guy who's only using her for sex, and when her best friend Lillian (Rudolph) tells her she's getting married she starts to compete with Lillian's new friend from work, Helen (Byrne) for the attention of the bride.

There are plenty of funny moments, but they still remind us of just how insecure Annie is and how she wants to be known as Lillian's closest friend. When a party is thrown for the newly engaged couple, Annie gives a little toast to Lillian, then Helen steps in and overshadows her toast with a much better one and Annie steps up to the mike again to "say a few more words." This goes on for quite a while with each woman trying to one up the other until they're both singing to Lillian.

Moments before disaster...

The one scene that makes it extremely raunchy and had everyone in my audience laughing was when they went to a very chic bridal gown shop where you need a reservation to get in and the dresses that are eight hundred dollars are the ones on sale. Right before Annie had taken everyone to a Brazilian restaurant and everyone except Helen became sick because they ate the meat. They all get food poisoning as they're wearing their expensive gowns and have to race for the one-toilet elegant bathroom. I'll let your imagination take it from there.  It is a gross scene, but it's not as graphic as it could have been, thank goodness!

As the movie goes on, Annie continues to resent Lillian's and Helen's friendship more and more and ruins all of Lillian's big pre-wedding events. They don't even make it to Vegas for a bachelorette party due to her acting up on the plane after taking some pills Helen gave her that would calm her down. (I loved it when she called the flight attendant "Stove" (his name was obviously Steve) and declared she could do anything she wanted because, "this is the '90s!")

Her biggest rock-bottom moment was when she exploded at Lillian after Helen told her them was taking Lillian to Paris to get her wedding dress and Annie started going ballistic and vandalizing all the decorations. Because of this and her behavior, she was not allowed to take home a puppy as a party favor. (Yes, a puppy!)

Interwoven in the movie is a subplot where Annie meets an Irish cop who encourages her to go back to baking her cupcakes because he had been to her bakery before it closed. There's also a few funny scenes with Annie and her two roommates, siblings from England. There was really no need for them, but I did laugh when Annie found out the sister had been reading her diary and she replied, "I didn't know it was your diary! I thought it was a really depressing handwritten book!" Oh, I'm going to have to use that excuse if I ever get caught reading someone's diary... It was also funny when the brother told Annie they they were kicking her out because they thought it was weird that "two siblings were living together with a flatmate."

The film is a little on the long side (a little over two hours, they probably could have easily trimmed it), and it's not necessary to see on the big screen, but I would recommend renting it or putting it on your Netflix queue when it's available on DVD. Oh, and if you love the Wilson Phillips song, "Hold On", you will get a kick out of the wedding!