★★★★☆

14 November 2011

This article is a review of BRIDESMAIDS.

By Hemanth Kissoon

“Yeah, oh, sh*t. Took a hard, hard violent fall, kinda pin-balled down hit a lot of railings, broke a lot of sh*t. I'm not gonna say I survived, I'm gonna say I thrived. I met a dolphin down there and I swear to God that dolphin looked not at me, but into my soul, looked into my Goddamn soul,” Megan (Melissa McCarthy).

At first glance it looks like THE HANGOVER knock-off, but is in fact a different beast. The two share wedding-centric plots and a propensity for outlandish humour, though BRIDESMAIDS is not about party wish-fulfilment, and rather a look at female friendship and self-esteem, and to a lesser degree how men treat women. The “rom” in rom-com is toned down, and perhaps that goes to explain why this has been lauded in so many quarters – there is no talking down to women, nor schmaltzy nonsense about finding the one to solve all your problems; BRIDESMAIDS looks at small victories when there is large calamity. I didn’t feel there was any mega message being shoved down my throat, it’s a quieter nudge, to keep persevering. Even with all the broad humour and generally broad characterisation, it‘s Kristen Wiig’s focal point Annie who feels rounded and that’s enough. For better or for worse I wasn’t expecting much from a summer comedy, but even on a repeat viewing this stands up. Admittedly I had to fast-forward during the excruciatingly awesome engagement party speech standoff between Helen (Rose Byrne) and Annie. I don’t know what it says about me, that I didn’t do the same during the food poisoning dress fitting!

“Are you ok?” Annie
“I just took a shit in the street,” Lillian (Maya Rudolph)
“People do that,” Annie