Not unlike former SNL superstar Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig has continuously stolen the SNL spotlight over the past several years. In fact, she is one of the main – if not at times, only – reason I even tune in to the show anymore. She carries a charisma to her comedy as captivating as gravity, an ease to her delivery and a comfort to her awkwardness that’s as hilarious as it is endearing. And in Bridesmaids, she finally takes center stage and delivers a comedic turn on par with Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, and any other of Judd Apatow’s (in)famous comedians.Never one to shy away from making a fool of herself, Wiig’s outrageous – nay, fearless – comedy style shines from the opening frames. Wiig plays Annie, a thirty-something whose life seems to have stalled between a douche of a bootie call (played to perfection by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm), an unsettling living situation, and a recently failed business venture. To top it all off, Annie’s best friend since childhood, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), has just gotten engaged to her wealthy boyfriend and befriended Helen (Rose Byrne), a snobby socialite, leaving Annie feeling increasingly disconnected. So when Lillian asks Annie to be her maid of honor, Annie feels compelled to bring out the big guns and prove that her life isn’t completely down the shitter.
Comedy is a tricky art – it takes a certain degree of self-deprecation, confidence, and subtlety to pull off something that seems so easy. Perhaps that’s why Wiig is so stellar here – she exudes all the makings of a great comedienne, breathing and living Annie, molding her into all shades of a real person. She has hopes, doubts, angst, desires, and fears. She laughs, screams, and cries. And in turn, Wiig effortlessly sculpts a (gasp!) three-dimensional female lead that is so much more than cleavage and pouty lips. Get ready world: we’ve just witnessed the makings of the next great comedienne and I can only hope she’s here to stay.
Surrounding Wiig is a cast of women equally as witty, charismatic, and endearing. Maya Rudolph, fostering a strong relationship with Wiig that clearly spans beyond film, has already proven she can shed tears as well as burst bladders. Tapping into her dramatic turn from Away We Go, Rudolph offers much of the heart and drama in the film’s third act without ever diving into the bawdy deep end. But the real scene-stealer here is Melissa McCarthy’s turn as Megan, the often over-the-top but straight-shooting sister of the groom who packs a surprising amount of heart given her limited screen time. Indeed, for all the gross-out gags and raunchy jokes, the film still manages to offer multiple shades to even its supporting characters, a feat far easier said than done.
Much has been made of the notion that Apatow solely focuses on male-centric comedy. To wit, many if not all of Apatow’s films – whether directed or produced – have invariably centered on a group of guy friends with the unattainable female love interest on the periphery. In turn, his comedies have often painted women in a shallow, one-dimensional light (Katherine Heigl’s infamous biting at the hand that fed her after starring in her flash-in-the-pan-career highlight Knocked Up comes to mind).
Indeed, this argument is not without merit. For the better part of the last decade, laughs at the cineplex have largely been reserved for guys and their bros as girlfriends and wives have peered in from the other side of the gender-defined window. The sad truth about the modern age of cinema is that “chick flicks” is often interchangeable with “crap,” “geared towards women” synonymous with “flop.” And while no one has truly dared to deliver a good much less great female-centric film in a long time, monstrosities such as Sex and the City 2 and 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth continue to invade theaters faster than the waning careers of its starring ladies.
Well, the general banality of modern romantic comedy has finally been shattered. Bridesmaids not only taps into the female demographics, but arguably bridges the gap between what women enjoy and what bros dig. Indeed, at my screening, it was clear the theater was decidedly split 50/50 between guys and girls.
This is a film worthy of every dollar it makes. This is a homerun of a comedy, shattering predispositions of what a film can be and what it will be. This is the perfect marriage of raunchy gags and gooey emotional fuzziness. This will be the sleeper comedy hit of 2011.
