Film Review: Bridesmaids (Another Rom Com)

I am unashamedly well behind the 8 ball on this review, but I will happily blame it on the fact that I was busy being a real-life bridesmaid when the film was released and there simply was no time to get to a cinema!

Bridesmaids is Judd Apatow’s version of The Hangover – for women. Apparently.

It started so, so well. The first half was so funny! I snorted with laughter – loudly – many times. It was rollicking and funny, and a clever insight into female rivalries. It really did seem like it was going to be The Hangover for women – they were all set to head to Vegas for the hens night… And then it just kind of slid downhill, and got a bit tired.

The film begins with Lillian asking her childhood friend, Annie (Kirsten Wiig), to be her maid of honour. From here we begin the journey every bridesmaid must take in delivering the best in friendship a girl can give to her friend – hens night, trying on dresses, deciding on themes and kitchen teas. At the engagement party, we meet the other bridesmaids, particularly the beyond-perfect Helen (divine Rose Byrne) who seems to have her eye on the MoH prize, despite having really only just met Lillian in friendship terms (8 months? Pffft!).

Melissa McCarthy (of Gilmore Girls fame) flushes viewers down into swirling toilet humour in an odd David Brent-style manner. Annie's life becomes progressively shittier: her bakery has gone bust; she is shagging an awful man (played by Jon Hamm… It hurt me to see him playing such an ass on screen) when she should be with the nice man who wants to be kind to her; she has been kicked out by her freaky flatmates and must live with her mother; and worst of all, Lillian – the bride-to-be and Annie’s best friend – ditches her as MoH because Helen seems like a better, more well-organised friend. And suddenly the film just wasn’t that funny any more. Why did the angst need to come into this in such a heavy handed manner? Couldn't it have been just a little more light-hearted?

Rose Byrne was very pretty, on the plus side


Is this 30 year old single girl angst that made me not love this overly? I’m not sure.

I’m just not into repetitive toilet humour. Maybe once, but not at length. I don’t like it when comedians try to rip off a character that has been carefully crafted and brilliantly delivered by another comedian. And when it’s meant to be a comedy, can we just leave all the angst out please? These were my gripes. I did enjoy the film aside from that - the characters were inoffensive enough, and of course David Brent masquerading as a woman was funny, and there were some very sweet and funny moments that warmed the heart. So all in all, I didn’t mind Bridesmaids overly. It really just made me feel like an elitist snob for not enjoying the toilet humour while the rest of the cinema seemed to be roaring with laughter.

Rose Byrne wears some gorgeous outfits, and I thought the wedding was a total hoot at the end (once we clawed our way there). This is one of those movies you watch when you are hungover on a couch, and not feeling overly emo about your life's direction. Wait til it’s a weekly. 3 stars.

The characters had more character in this picture than in the whole film...