Susan Granger’s review of “Bridesmaids” (Universal Pictures)
From veteran comedy producer Judd Apatow ( “Superbad,” “Knocked Up,” “The 40 Year-Old Virgin”) and director Paul Feig (“Unaccompanied Minors”) comes this crude, female-driven caper that’s about as far from the traditional chick-flick or formulaic wedding chronicle as you can get. From the opening shot – a slapstick sex scene between self-absorbed Kristen Wiig (TV’s “Saturday Night Live”) and sleazy Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) – it’s not only lewd but also laugh-out-loud funny.
Kristen Wiig plays lonely, lovelorn Annie who is asked to be maid-of-honor when her longtime closest friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets married. Since her bakery business failed, she’s not only depressed but desperately vulnerable, so Annie becomes enmeshed in all the prescribed rituals and frenzied rites that precede the nuptials, including getting to know the other women (Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Melissa McCarthy) who have been invited to participate in the bridal party. Above all, there’s Helen (Rose Byrne), the scheming, well-to-do wife of the groom’s boss, whom insecure Annie fears will soon replace her as Lillian’s new best-friend. Jealousy rears its head – and it isn’t pretty.
Predictably, the bachelorette party planned as Las Vegas bash goes awry and there’s an unsavory bout with food poisoning that includes projectile vomiting, inopportune defecation, and all-too-prevalent profanity. If it sounds like a vulgar female version of “The Hangover,” it is. And just as Steve Carell’s career was catapulted by “The 40 Year-Old Virgin,” this should be the springboard for the rising career of Kristen Wiig, whose comedic timing is impeccable.
Although there obviously many improvisational moments, it’s key to note that the ribald, almost sit-com-like script was created by two female writers, Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who met years ago at The Groundlings, a Los Angeles-based improve troupe where they wrote sketches together. And it should be mentioned that the late Jill Clayburgh makes her final screen appearance as Annie’s well-meaning mom, while Chris O’Dowd scores as Annie’s beau, an Irish-accented highway patrolman.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bridesmaids” is a sharp-yet-sweet, shockingly scatological 7, filled with bawdy, uninhibited babes.
