WMR #3 - Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids: 2011

Watch Date: 4/11/11

This movie was picked by Math. Not only did he pick it, but he was sweet enough to pick up a handful of free-tickets to a special pre-screening at the University of Colorado.  This movie looked intriguing because it has two people from Saturday Night Live in it: the Maid of Honor (Kristin Wiig) and the bride (Maya Rudoplh).  Also, it has Erin from the Office as another bridesmaid.

The story is based on these two friends from childhood, one who is getting married and the other who is her Maid of Honor (MoH).  However, their lives have taken completely different paths, the bride is successful with a successful husband-to-be and everything is happy-perfect for her. The MoH, on the other hand, lost all her money on a bakery that failed, got her heart broken by this total douche-bag boyfriend/sex buddy and lives with a creepy British roommate and his even creepier, even less British sister. (Effectively ugly Americans with British accents).

The MoH joins a cast of equally weird characters - the cynical, married cousin with three boys (Wendi McLendon-Covey); the sweet, innocent newlywed (Ellie Kemper); the overweight, crude, tomboyish future sister-in-law (Melissa McCarthy) and the gorgeous, rich, successful, poised fiance's boss's young wife (Rose Byrne). Right away there is conflict between the scraggly, down-to-earth, "yesteryear" MoH and this new gorgeous woman who is more "now" in the bride's life. Shenanigans ensue involving freakouts, breakdowns, cry-outs and one very unpleasant bodily-functions schene.

Left to Right: Chubby, innocent, hawt, slutty, bride, MoH

I have to say that I had no idea what this movie was going to be like so I wasn't expecting anything in particular except "Yay! Free theatre movie!". It's good that I had no expectations because even still the movie didn't live up to them. First off, the characters were all way too wacky and none of them (including the bride and MoH) were likeable - well I guess except Ellie's character but she got so little face time that I can't really say.  Also, none of them were particularly funny...well ok...I guess that's not entirely true. The MoH was pretty great at her part and managed to be the most believable and funny. Also, the sister-in-law has some pretty funny and even an endearing moment but they make her really gross also so all the former is ruined.

The lunch before the fateful eye-covering scene (sorry Brazilians).

Some people have described this movie as "The Hangover meets Sex and the City". Well, I think this is a way too flattering definition as Sex and the City is 100 times more classy and The Hangover isn't nearly as lowbrow and tactless (and that's saying something).  I mean, you have a scene where a bunch of pretty (for the most part) girl are wearing $800 designer bridesmaid dresses and (Warning: graphic content ahead) projectile vomiting on each other and shitting in non-bathroom locations. I'm not usually offended to the point that I feel nauseated and flabbergasted and have to cover my eyes, but this movie did it.

And don't get me started on all the excessive snooty things this pretty, wanna-be MoH does to effectively 1-up the real MoH (like giving out lab puppies with pink berets as shower gifts) or how the bride reacts to her friend's misery over the whole thing. I can say that I believe the bride isn't a very good friend afterall and the MoH should just walk away from that toxic friendship. But who knows...that could be a typical wedding-planning occurrence (though I can't imagine my MoH flipping out. If she did, I should take it seriously hehe). 

As a side story, there was a romance with the MoH and a cop (Chris O'Dowd) who was very cute and the only character that seemed to not only know what was going on, but be normal to boot. I would have loved this storyline to be developed more but as is the case when you have 2 parallel storylines, both suffer. Neither the bridesmaids relationships with each other nor the MoH-cop relationship really grew to full fruition. Too bad....

My rating is 1 out of 5 stars. I don't know if 0 is a valid rating but there were some parts that coerced a chuckle from me, so I should give it some credit.

Math rates Bridesmaids a 3 out of 5 and "not a good mix." Obviously he's way more forgiving of the vomit scene than I am. Save your money people, go see something...anything...instead. And if you MUST see it, just wait till it's out on Netflix.

Wedding Movie List:
1). Father of the Bride
2). My Big Fat Greek Wedding
3). The Wedding Singer
4). Made of Honor
5). The Wedding Crashers
6). Four Weddings and a Funeral
7). 27 Dresses
8). My Best Friend's Wedding
9). Bride Wars
10). The Wedding Planner
11). Bridesmaids
12). Muriel's Wedding
13). Runaway Bride
14). You Again
15). Something Borrowed