Bridesmaids (2011)
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Bridesmaids Movie Review
Bridesmaids is a 2011 comedy film directed by Paul Feig and starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne and Melissa McCarthy. It’s truly a terrific comedy.
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“We would like to invite you
to no longer live with us“
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It follows a woman whose life turns upside down when her friend’s wedding approaches. Probably the film’s biggest strength lies in the movie’s insightful commentary on female friendships and self-destructive behavior. Bridesmaids is a comedy, but it’s a sophisticated comedy that has a lot to say about women, all the while being very realistic in their depictions.
The highly competitive, envious nature of female friendships is very well explored while the movie beautifully advises us not to throw a pity party for ourselves when we’re feeling down, but to go out and live our lives to the fullest in spite of the many hurdles that we might face. That message was told in an inspirational, but also very amusing manner by McCarthy’s character in one of the film’s most heartwarming and deepest sequences.
Just due to that scene, McCarthy deserved her Oscar nomination. She is always at her best when working with Paul Feig (‘Spy’ was also tremendous), and here she is both vulgar and very likable in her selflessness. The fact that she was nominated by the Academy for such a comedic role was very unexpected and refreshing.
Although I appreciate them for this choice, I condemn them for their snubbing of Kristen Wiig for Best Actress. This is by far Wiig’s career-greatest performance. She was always a very gifted comedian, but here she is not just funny, and she is truly hilarious throughout most of the movie, but she also sold all of her dramatic moments, which are plentiful in number. Wiig is especially amazing in her numerous funny facial expressions that steal the show here.
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Rose Byrne was a good fit for this very annoying, bougie woman that gets on the protagonist’s nerves. Their friction is one of the film’s funniest aspects. Maya Rudolph got the thankless, straight man role of the movie, but she did the best she could with a less interesting character, and the friendship between the two women is great.
Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey are very memorable and fun in very small roles, but Rebel Wilson was very underused unfortunately. She is hilarious and they should have given her a bigger role. As for Chris O’Dowd, he is this undeniably sweet, wonderful love interest of Annie’s. Their romance is impossibly cute and charming. It did give the movie those romantic comedy vibes, but they were so good that I did not mind them at all.
Bridesmaids features one of the best protagonists of this decade. Annie’s arc is simply stupendous and very inspirational and relatable for anyone who’s ever had a bad day at the office, and that is all of us. Watching her descent into madness and then recuperate was emotionally rewarding.
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The problem with Bridesmaids is that it uses some overly gross-out humor, especially in the food poisoning sequence that is too over-the-top in all the crapping and vomiting. However, the rest of the movie is actually much more sophisticated in its mixture of cringe humor and big, but still somewhat realistic and relatable events gone wrong. The highlights include the iconic plane sequence and the hilariously manic bridal shower, both perfectly executed. The direction from Feig is very good and the movie is technically solid.
