Review: Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids
Dir. Paul Fieg
Year: 2011
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 125mins

“The female Hangover!” is what people are calling Bridesmaids, a description that’s both apt and thankfully not all true. They’re similar in that Paul Feig’s “raunchy” comedy involves a group of women getting into “comical adventures”, but where it differs are that its finest moments are those that are handled with a poignancy and sweetness that leave the unlikeable man-children of The Hangover in the dust.

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Let it be known that I enjoyed the first Hangover a lot, but those characters were indeed vile. The sequel, however, was a shithouse and the characters less unlikeable than just pure boring. Oh well.

I was writing this review while drinking a glass of red wine and i really did occur to me that I fully anticipate being as pathetically depressed as Kristen Wiig's character is in Bridesmaids in no time at all. That moment where she looks at her pay slip and I pretty much went "yeah, that's me." Still, Annie can join a long line of amazingly awesome pathetic mildly alcoholic characters played by fantastic comediennes: Jules (Courteney Cox) in Cougar Town, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) in 30 Rock, Old Christine (Julia Louis Dreyfus) in The New Adventures of Old Christine... may this newfound comedic cliche be the gift that keeps on giving!

The Blue Lagoonies and Other Movie Mash-Ups

Do you watch Cougar Town? You should. It's the only show on television that is guaranteed to send me into fits of laughter. Whenever I watch it I have to record it at the same time so I can go back and revisit all the jokes I missed! Purchasing season 1 on DVD was one of the best decisions I made in recent months, true fact!

Last night, completely by accident, I stumbled across the season 2 premiere (at 10.30 at night, for shame Channel 7 and Australian television viewers who, for some reason, still watch Grey's Anatomy and Two and a Half Men) and I was so glad to have it back. There was a hilarious Jennifer Aniston cameo (the sage leaves! OH MY GAWD, THE SAGE LEAVES! I nearly fell off the couch with laughter) as well as "movie mash-ups", a new drinking game ("we drink while we're doing it!") that the cul-de-sac crew invented. It's very hilarious and, ta da, here it is on YouTube.


I bring this up because over at My New Plaid Pants, my mate Jason is doing a movie mash-up of sorts (not the same as Cougar Town, but it works as a tie in nonetheless) as he counts down his favourite films and performances of 2010. You should definitely go read if the thought of I Am Fish Tank appeals to your laugh gene. (Wait, do we even have a laugh gene?)

Connor: We should definitely fuck.
Emma Recchi: Bellissimo!
Amazing. He also came up with this as a "moment of 2010 awesomeness", which I can't help but scream "Yes!" at.


And speaking of "best of 2010" have you been following Nathaniel Rogers' Film Bitch Awards? They're routinely my favourite part of any given Oscar season (give or take the actual Oscars) what with their less narrow view and fun sub-categories, which are about to get under way. "Best Cameo", anyone? How about "Best Musical Sequence"? Fantastic.

Although, if you want to take a look at my favourite personal ballot of the season - don't you much prefer them to same ol' same ol' organisations? - it would have to be Guy Lodge's at In Contention. There is part one and part two to indulge in and it's fabulous stuff. I may not have liked them but titles like Dogtooth, The Fighter and Everyone Else sitting alongside those I do like such as Black Swan, White Material, Fish Tank and The Illusionist makes for a compelling, personal, fascinating read. I suggest you run along and do so.

Now.