Le amiche della sposa

Let's be honest: when we saw the first trailer for Bridesmaids, who among us didn't think it looked like a dismal rehash of The Hangover (only this one, of course, features a "ratpack" of women)? Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that Bridesmaids is better than The Hangover. I have yet to see The Hangover Part 2, so I can't comment on any similarities/differences that might or might not exist. But one thing is for sure: Kristen Wiig has proved her worth as a female lead with a serious amount of comedic clout.

The story isn't revolutionary: one of two best friends is getting married, and everything involved with said nuptials is threatening to tear their lifelong friendship apart. At the center of this battle is Helen, a newly acquired "friend"—via the merging of two exclusive social circles—who begins taking over the wedding plans for Lillian (Rudolph). Annie (Wiig) makes it her mission to take out this she-devil, and what follows is the setup for one of the more memorable meltdowns (among a plethora of other things) to come along in quite some time. Bridesmaids is also peppered with the sort of humor that made movies like Superbad and Knocked Up so funny—it's observant and kitschy in that it rightly jabs several other films that have braved similar issues. In fact, the previously mentioned Hangover is, in at least a very minute way, one of these movies. In what initially appears to be a sad "bow" to The Hangover as king of the pre-wedding funnies, the girls decide to go to Vegas for Lillian's bachelorette party. This ends up being a perfectly welcome curve ball, though, as screenwriters Wiig and Mumolo brilliantly utilize the length of the plane trip to said destination to further flesh out their characters and create an impressively humorous string of in-flight mishaps.

There are a number of other contributors who make Bridesmaids work extraordinarily well, but, as is the case with any solid piece of cinema, it's best if you set aside some time to take in the whole thing in one fell swoop and let it unravel of its own volition. Sure, it's extraordinarily raunchy from time to time, but the nuanced, perfectly- timed moments of comedic genius make it a very worthwhile trip.

This is the funniest film ever made. Hands down. And it gets funnier every time. I have never laughed so hard, and I quote it almost daily. Just perfection!

The cast are all amazing and are perfectly cast. Kristen Wigg has never been better. There are just too many funny scenes- the plane scene is an absolute classic. If you don't pretend to be Ms Iglesias on your next flight then there is something wrong with you. But all the scenes are hilarious- the wedding speeches, any scene with Annie's mam, any scene with Megan, any scene with Rita... just brilliant. You feel like, somehow, even though they're all completely bonkers, you know them. And you leave the film feeling great.

Watch it... on repeat! You will not regret it!

It's a fun one time watch. Directed by Paul Feig. Life of a unsuccessful pastry chef whose best friend moves kn and is ready to get married; the funny competition between herself who is the maid of honor and one of the bridesmaids. The cute love story with the cop who actually loved her cakes when the bakery was in business, and keeps telling her to go back into it. There are good messages at parts, like when she hit rock bottom another friend comes over and tells her the problem is not the world, it's herself, so the solution has to come from her as well. Really good acting by everyone. Also a small message in Helen's story, on how money can't buy friends.

There are many prickly relationship comedies, many wedding related comedies, many gross-out comedies, many my-life-is-a-mess comedies and many comedies that shoe-horn in a romance.

This has all those familiar elements but it works really well. It is well-paced despite the long run time, with a good mix of the various elements that keeps the entertainment and comedy value strong. Importantly the characters and relationships seem believable which makes the comedy parts so much more effective when they happen.

Kristen Wiig plays the lead character and co-wrote (taking care to include romantic associations with two really attractive guys). Wiig is really funny and effective in the role. I also really enjoyed the performances of Rose Byrne and Chris O'Dowd. Melissa McCarthy is good and her bit on the plane was really funny.

For this film to work it has to be funny - and it isn't. I'll pretty much laugh at anything - I even thought Tropic Thunder was hilarious, Satan's Alley, now thats funny. But I sat through this and didn't laugh, smirk or smile once. Its not that i don't get Kristen Wiig, in fact I think she steals her scenes in Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where she is fantastic ("Its not a competition, but you're best"). She's also probably the best thing in Paul as a god bothering hillbilly.

But why doesn't this film work for me? Well it just isn't funny - there's no genuine humour in someone being drugged up and doing bad things on a plane, or people getting food poisoning and needing to defecate on the street. You would expect a lot from the people who put together this movie but they don't deliver.