Movie Review: Bridesmaids (2011 Film)

For the record, I am in no way "qualified" to be a film critic. I am writing this review as a woman, a feminist, and someone with a sense of humor.

So my favoritest ladies and I saw Bridesmaids a couple weekends ago.

I didn't realize this until today, but my favoritest ladies includes my brothers' wives and my husband's best friend's girlfriend. For the record, I was best friends with two of them for like a decade before either started dating who they are with now. I'm not one of those "I have to be friends with everyone!" types of women. The other one has just been with my brother for so freaking long (since I was 14 and they were 16, with a short break while they were teenagers) that she has become one of my best friends. 

This movie is funny. Not "funny for a chick flick" or "funny to women" but "funny." Hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard since I saw The Hangover.

The movie was produced by Judd Apatow, so there was a little bit of sentimentality mixed in with the humor, but it was only as much as you get in the 40-Year-Old Virgin. And the sentimentality is about friendship, not love. Which is a nice change of pace for a movie starring mostly women.

I rarely watch Saturday Night Live, and what little I've seen of Kristen Wiig on it has not impressed me. However, I do like her in movies. I liked her in Whip It and Extract. And I thought she was hilarious in Bridesmaids. Everyone keeps talking about the scene in the bridal shop. I thought the scene on the airplane was the best in the entire movie. The comedic build up and the pay off still makes me crack up just thinking about it. And Kristen Wiig owned that scene. (And Melissa McCarthy partially owned it.)

Another great thing about this movie - it's a movie about a wedding that really isn't about the wedding. Things happen that are related to a wedding - there is an engagement party, the bridal shower, an (attempted) bachelorette party, bridesmaids dress shopping, and the wedding itself. But they are mostly backdrops to the main focus of the movie - friendships, and finding happiness and satisfaction. And the wedding stuff was largely without all the details ... and best of all, without any sense that this wedding, or nailing a man, is the ultimate achievement in a woman's life. Rather, friendship and having a purpose in your life is what's important.

So anyway, as a feminist, I'm happy that:

• A comedy starring mostly women is funny and not just "funny to women"
• A movie about a wedding isn't about crap like a selfish runaway bride, or a man-stealing bridesmaid, or brides fighting each other, or trying to stop the wrong people from getting married, etc. 
• Said movie also passed the Bechdel Test (I told you I was a feminist.)
• Said movie is currently rated 89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

So, if you're male, female or other, go see Bridesmaids.  Unless you don't like to laugh. And don't like poop jokes. Or bleached a-hole jokes.