Not a comedy or a drama but a "dramady" and don't forget "chick flick"

Bridesmaids «««
R, 125m. 2011

Cast & Credits: Kristen Wiig (Annie), Maya Rudolph (Lillian), Rose Byrne (Helen), Chris O’Dowd (Officer Rhodes), Rebel Wilson (Brynn), Matt Lucas (Gil), Jill Clayburgh (Annie’s Mom), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Rita), Ellie Kemper (Becca), Melissa McCarthy (Megan). Screenplay by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo. Directed by Paul Feig.

Annie (Kristen Wiig) is definitely not in her happy place right now. Her cake baking business went belly up thanks to the recession. She hates her job as a saleswoman at a jewelry store, especially when she has to sell engagement rings to couples planning to marry. She lives with two British roommates who are brother and sister who will eventually tell her to move out. Her mother attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and she isn’t even a former alcoholic. She just likes to attend the meetings to hear other addicts tell their stories. Although I couldn’t tell the model of the car she drives, I find it safe to say it looks worse than the ‘76 Pinto I drove in high school.

Annie’s only real joy in her life right now is spending time with her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph). Annie is thrilled when Lillian tells her she is getting married and wants her to be maid of honor. Things, however, go from bad to worse when Annie attends Lillian’s pre-wedding party. Bad enough that every person Annie talks to at the party there is a complete stranger standing next to her making others think she has a boyfriend. Then she meets Helen (Rose Byrne), Lillian’s rich perfectionist trophy wife and Lillian’s new best friend responsible for setting up the expensive wedding party and now Annie feels jealous and alone.

If any of what I just described to you doesn’t sound funny that’s because despite being promoted as a comedy where all the humorous scenes are compacted into a less than five-minute trailer, Bridesmaids is not a comedy or a drama but a comedy-drama or “dramedy.”

I have often been told by friends that I don’t get enough humor in my life and am too serious. I went to see Bridesmaids, thanks in part to my being fooled by the comedic trailer, that this would be like Bachelor Party (1984) where there was practically no drama at all. It was just guys being raunchy in the tradition of Animal House (1978). I didn’t have to wonder sitting through that Tom Hanks film if on the eve of a guy’s wedding the best man has a bachelor party where the lucky guy gets to have one last romp with a hooker or stripper, or maybe a few of them before being attached to the ball and chain at the altar and say “I do.”

Bridesmaids follows the same marketing ploy that Knocked Up (2007) followed where the comedic scenes were in the trailer but upon seeing the film I find it is not quite the laugh riot critics made it out to be. Yes there are quite a few humorous moments in Bridesmaids where I laughed and smiled a few times. Many of those were moments of raunchiness.

For a brief moment I thought it was thunder I was hearing outside during the film. Turns out it was the bridesmaids’ stomachs growling while trying on several wedding dresses at an expensive bridal boutique. They all got sick from the BBQ luncheon at some hole-in-the wall place Annie took them to where they were all served a lot of bad beef. The women here prove they are just as capable of being rude and crude as guys are dashing to an immaculately clean bathroom fighting each other for the toilet. One couldn’t wait and vomits on another’s hair, while Megan (Melissa McCarthy), a heavy-set free spirited woman uses the bathroom sink to unload her bowels.

McCarthy steals the show playing a character who has the best job working for the government (You won’t believe how many shopping malls are out there that are terrorist targets she says) who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and doesn’t care if what she says offends anyone else or if she isn’t as attractive as the others.

“She’s the most together of the bridesmaids,” McCarthy told US Weekly. “She’s good at what she does, she knows it and she likes her life. She’s confident.”

Watching Annie and Helen compete as to who is really the perfect best friend and maid of honor, I couldn’t help but wonder if the two might engage in a catfight sloshing around in some chocolate water fall at Lillian’s bridal shower. If such a scene had happened I have a feeling Annie would win. Sorry guys, that doesn’t occur. You will just have to settle for the two women's competitive rivalry at a tennis match as Annie does not so much hit the balls in hopes Helen can hit them back as she is hoping to her directly.

Which brings me to what Bridesmaids is and what audience the film is most geared to – women. This is a chick flick all the way. Guys might laugh at the gross moments but like Sex and the City (2008) where I believe I was but a handful of males among an audience full of female fans of the cable TV series when I saw it three years ago, I don’t suspect many men will pay to see this unless their significant other drags them kicking and screaming.

For me, if there is any consolation here it is that I liked Bridesmaids more than I did Sex and the City thanks to Wiig’s character. Annie is the glue keeping this movie together even if she winds up alienating Lillian and most everyone else before film’s end including a potential boyfriend (Chris O’Dowd), a traffic cop who pulls her over one night because her brake lights are out.

Sadly, I actually know people whose lives are on a downward spiral who might get just a little jealous when they see that someone else’s life is better than theirs. I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t encountered that. My grandfather always told me things eventually work out for the best and are never nearly as bad as I might make them out to be. Perhaps in Annie’s case her desire to finally get her life straight comes from the lines in that Wilson Philips song, Hold On, “Don’t you know things can change, Things’ll go your way, If you hold on for one more day.”

I don’t see how anyone wouldn’t want to root for Annie. I also wouldn’t mind trying one of her specially made, beautifully frosted cupcakes.

©5/18/11