Screen Rant’s Vic Holtreman reviews Bridesmaids
Well, Hell. I’ve found a chick flick that I loved and my wife would no doubt hate. Go figure.
That should be your first hint that Bridesmaids is most certainly not for everyone – but if you’re a fan of really out there, vulgar Apatow-style comedies this movie should satisfy your funny bone big time.
Right from the opening line (which without a doubt tops any first line of dialog I’ve ever heard in a movie) it is clear what you’re in for. Bridesmaids is the story of Annie (Kristen Wiig), an attractive woman in her mid-30s who’s been through a business failure and can’t seem to find a man who will appreciate her and treat her right. She seems to be on a self-defeating path – attracted to men (well, in the movie, ONE man) who totally uses her just as a sex object. She tries mightily to rationalize the relationship but in her heart she knows the guy (John Hamm) is just a rich jerk and a user.
Meanwhile, Annie’s best friend since childhood, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) has just gotten engaged. Lillian wants Annie to be her maid of honor, which includes planning the shower and bachelorette party. Annie is of course happy for her friend, but the situation only serves to highlight her own currently poor life situation.
The fly in the ointment here is the very attractive, rich and poised Helen (Rose Byrne) who has taken the express route to being Lillian’s new bestest friend ever. The driving story is Annie’s attempts to stay in control of the pre-wedding festivities while Helen tries to be “helpful” – while undermining Annie’s plans.
Along for the ride are a group of ladies that each have their own personality quirks and issues – one is a frustrated mother and wife who describes her foul-mouthed, back-talking teenage boys in excruciating “overshare” detail. Another is a naive, wide-eyed newlywed (of course, these two are paired up for an in-depth heart to heart later in the film). But the woman who runs away with the movie is Megan, the gruff, overweight member of the group. She is played hilariously by Melissa McCarthy with a down to earth earnestness that somehow works even when she is doing and saying outrageous things.
Melissa McCarthy in a scene from 'Bridesmaids'
Kristin Wiig (who I’ve never seen in an episode of Saturday Night Live) conveyed more with her facial expressions than some better known actresses seem to be able to manage with a paragraph of dialog. She’s so endearing – and even though you know things won’t work out for her until the end of the film (come on, you knew that, right?) you’re cheering for her throughout the entire journey. The “nice guy” that is trying to get through to her is played by Chris O’Dowd who I recognized from the British television show The IT Crowd (hysterically funny show, especially if you’re any sort of computer geek).
Bridesmaids has a combination of Hangover-type comedy, female buddy flick, and yes, heart, that I can’t say I’ve seen combined this way before. Is it vulgar, gross and crass – oh, yeah. The post-restaurant scene where the troupe gets food poisoning is something you’d expect to see in a college road-trip movie – but it’s so shockingly outrageous that you’ll laugh out of nervousness if nothing else (that or you’ll be completely grossed out and offended).
The thing about this movie is that most of the characters are just so damned likable. Me, I like that in a move – people I can root for that are funny and have a good heart. It’s not for everyone, but Bridesmaids is just full of awkward goodness that had me laughing out loud throughout the movie, and the audience laughing so much that sometimes it was hard to make out dialog during the film. I don’t think I’ve laughed this loud and this much during a comedy since last year’s The Hangover.
Check out a very tame trailer for Bridesmaids:
-
Loading ...Our Rating:
4 out of 5
(Excellent)
Ryan Reynolds Drops Out of 'Highlander' Reboot 
No Loki in 'Avengers 2' 
'Man of Steel' Director & Writer on What Has to Happen in 'Man of Steel 2' 
'Man of Steel' Ending Controversy 
You shoulda seen my face when I saw this had a better review then Thor.
LOL, damn, I knew that was going to come up – but I didn’t think it would be the VERY first comment.
Vic
Vic i think tgis will be funny but better than Thor? Not in a million years for me lol
Ricky it can’t really be compared to Thor its a totally different type of movie it would be like comparing HP with role models it just doesn’t work that way
Im not comparing the movies Im comparing the scores Vic gave them.
Lumpy I disagree.
All films can be compared. They may be different genres, but they are still film. You have to be able to say “This is my fave movie” not just “This is my fave Comedy about 4 guys who walk around” and “This is my fave comedy about 3 girls who walk around”
Every film is comparable and has to be.
Daniel F, I would disagree. Of course different genres are all films and you can rate acting, directing, writing, etc. at a base level, but so many different things go into what makes a five star comedy five stars as opposed to a five star drama that comparing the two doesn’t really make sense. And, I can say my favorite movie is Die Hard, but it’s not the best movie I’ve ever seen.
I agree and disagree. You can rate movies by genre like you’re saying above but you can also rate them overall. You can say That’s a five star comedy, but you can also say that same film is only a 4 star movie. I’m not saying you CAN’T put things in specific genres just that you can still rate them over all as a film as well. So you can compare Thor and this as films overall.
If you started saying “Oh those films are not the same genre how Dare you compare them” all the time where does it stop? Oh those are two different kinds of comedies how dare you compare them? Oh those two comedies about a guy meeting a girl that are rated PG13 have different actors how dare you compare them? At a certain point it gets ridiculous.
Of course you can compare two films of different genres other wise whats the point of having a fave film or reviews in general. Hangover may be a great comedy maybe even top 5 of all time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t compare it to film sin genearl where its only maybe in the top 100 films of all time.
Daniel F, I think the confusion comes from those that think when a critic/reviewer gives two movies from different genres the same rating that he or she is saying they are equivalent and that is normally not the case. So, after reading your subsequent comment, I think we are actually pretty much in the same place.
Since all movies are subjective of course you can compare them. Movies are simply entertainment. If a comedy makes you laugh super much for the right reason it’s good, if a drama devours you and blabla you get caught up in it it’s good. they’ve both done their job. So i cant understand why you say “no they cant be rated cause it’s a different genre”. Their suppose to trigger different emotions, but it’s whether it does or not and for how long. However each genre has different elements in them that can’t be or it’s hard to compare them, but that doesnt mean you cant compare them to the overall entertainment factor.
I know nobody’s going to listen to me, but I for one feel each movie must be considered on its own terms. For example, Thor for me was 4/5. Dark Knight was 4/5 (it’s a very long film..). But comparing them, Thor would get a 4/5, and Dark Knight would get a 5. That’s merely because I still really enjoyed Thor, but Dark Knight came out as the more palpably tense and satisfying film. The public agreed when they gave it buckets of money.
When a score is given around here, it is on the film for the film’s sake- not for the sake of every film ever reviewed on this site or any other.
I meant to say compared not rated.
Magnus, Not sure who you are quoting in your comment, cause I never typed that anywhere if you are replying to me.
My only point was in the comparing of star ratings of movies in different genres. Like, for example Vic gave four stars to The Lincoln Lawyer as well, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he thinks it is equally as good a movie as Bridesmaids or the other way around for that matter. At least, I wouldn’t assume so based on the star rating.
Magnus, Didn’t see your subsequent comment that said you meant compared until after I replied, but hopefully I clarified that I am talking about comparing star ratings of movies in different genres.
Was it the same face as your avatar?
L
M
A
O
+1 jake, to the reviewer from the trailer i can deduce straight away that it looks very boring and i wont be seeing it, now thor on the other hand was awesome.
If the trailer made it look boring, I can say that ACTUALLY a bunch of the stuff in the trailer ISN’T in the movie. And the movie is quite hilarious
I thunk Kristen Wiig is hilarious and I am so glad to hear that you liked this Vic. I’m going to see it Saturday.
*think
I feel shame for you on this one. I’m snagging a man card You have no choice in the matter.
Saw thirty minutes of this movie and it was enough that I walked away. Didn’t even finish it I hated it that much. I like Apatow films, but I didn’t like this. To me it wasn’t even really funny and it was a total chick flick just a dirty chick flicks. It’s like sisterhood of the traveling pants with f bombs.
Don’t feel “shame” for me. You’re not my mother. It’s not my problem you didn’t find the movie funny. I did, as did the audience I screened it with.
Vic
Vic it was pretty clearly a joke. While i disagree with you on the film I was obviously teasing
Daniel,
Considering the general tone of your comments here it was not “obviously” a joke.
Vic
Vic I disagree it was VERY obviously a joke.
When have you ever known someone to be serious when saying man card?
Did you actually expect me to come knocking on your door and taking a ‘man card’ from you? No so it was very obviously a joke. Especially since a ‘man card’ is not a real thing. You people are driving me crazy a swear?
Seriously have you ever in your life known someone to mention man card and be dead serious ? really ? Give me a break
Daniel,
Based on your comment history and general attitude here, starting off a comment with “I feel shame for you on this one” has no hint of joke about it.
If you were joking, fine, I’ll take your word for it.
Vic
Ooooh!! You know you done f**ked up right??? You know that right???
Ezee No I did not at all. I did nothing wrong I made a VERY F****ING obvious joke and a couple of dense people didn’t get it. that’s not my problem.
“feel shame” “snagging a man card” “no choice in the matter”
Comments like these are not a very manly thing to do.
And if you have to “snag a man card” to demonstrate
your manhood you are not playing with a full deck.
I’m sorry MR I don’t get humor or understand jokes. My mistake. For Christs sakes get a sense of humor. Man cards are clearly not real and I obviously don’t feel shame for him
I’m afraid your comments were not obvious humor.
So you really don’t get humor or understand jokes.
Oh how clever and witty just repeat what I said but direct it at me. Wow. Good ol I know you are but what am I.
What’s next I’m rubber and you’re glue?
Try as you might to weasel out of your original comments
you are only succeeding in revealing even more insecurity.
How on earth am I trying to weasel out of my comment? I made a joke you didn’t get it. That’s sad, but life goes on. Internet humor is often missed by a lot of people, but oh well. You’re clearly making a big deal out of nothing. I don’t believe anyone has history has ever said Man Card and meant it in a serious way. That’s why it should of obviously been a joke.
Oh well this is a very pointless if you didn’t get the joke I’m sorry to hear that. Life goes on get over it and I will as well. later. Please don’t continue to be insulting lets just move on from this like adults. I’m really tired of internet misunderstanding creating big childish arguments. Lets move on.
No one thought you made a joke. Because you didn’t.
And you are the only one throwing around insults.
So you can’t move on good to know. Glad you know my intentinos and what I actually mean. You know me better than me thats crazy.
I’m not gonna bother responding to you anymore if you can’t act mature and move on like an adult. Was a simple internet misunderstanding, but if you want to continue to be a jerk by all means.
Have fun. Please do reply pretending like you know what you’re talking about I know you won’t be able to resist. As usual typical internet troll I expect nothing less from you. Please prove me right. So in typical troll fashion respond make sure you get the last word. I await you proving me right.
There was no misunderstanding. You are lying.
You meant your original comments as stated.
You were called out and cannot take it.
You prove your immaturity
with every post you make.
You are the embodiment of everything you accuse others of being.
Trying to bully strangers anonymously on the internet proves
you are the opposite of the tough guy you pretend to be.
Add to that your inability to discern how you exposed
yourself means you can never learn to grow up.
Dan, the way we read the statements do not make it seem like a joke man…
Your opinion means less to me than anything I can think of off the top of my head. I know what kind of person you are and I’d prefer you avoid replying to me in the future. I don’t speak to 9/11 ‘so called’ truthers.
lol you think what you want Dan I was just makin a point, the way you say things surely dont come out as jokes,obviously or else this wouldnt have turned into a huge argument.
lol Bad jokes are bad. Incidentally I don’t know if I’d see this one. It looks “Ok” but as others have mentioned, I have to save my $$ for all the other movies that are coming out this summer!
How did this turn to 9/11 “truth” stuff? Daniel, your joke was misunderstood relax for the love of God.
Really Daniel F, give it a break.
Thats the way you try to end the conversations Daniel very mature indeed lol…
OK, that’s enough of that in this thread, folks.
Vic
Yea Ricky so much more mature to keep talking trash and talking to someone who has made it very clear they want nothing to do with you.
No offense but when you admit to barely seeing one third of a movie, your opinion on said film is automatically invalidated.
prax if you watch 30 mins of something and absolutely hate it are you suppose to keep watching it so that a random guy named prax on the net will consider your opinion valid?
NO my opinion is till valid. 30 mins of a film is plenty to know if you are going to like it or not and 30 mins was enough for me to walk away from the film. If 30 mins in to a COMEDY you don’t laugh than you are not going to like the film was it suddenly gonna get funny at 31 minutes and from then on be a none stop laugh riot?
haha daniel i have been reading these comments and i’m with you on everything….i dont see why people on this website were offended by anything you said….truth be told if sayin “mancard” or “shame” is all it takes to get people fired up imagine how much they must b*tch in person in the outside world! i really dont get why the grown man that made this awesome and successful website(no sarcasim i love screenrant) feels like he has to make sure you know that your comments hurt his feelings and get into a 2nd grade argument with u…its not unprofessional it’s just weird to me i guess. but whatever, the guy would rather see bridesmaids than thor so to each his own
Have you really never seen Kristen Wigg in a SNL episode? Or did I not get the sarcasim?
Your first paragraph, Vic, had me laughing already.
I was unsure about this but not after your review.
Secondarily, the stars after the review work great
And the site is much smoother after some no
doubt new changes under the hood.
Thanks, Robert. I kind of hoped that the stars at the bottom might attenuate at least SOME of the knee jerk replies based on just the rating without having read the reviews.
Vic
Well let’s hope it does that. It should.
It works better too taking away the knowledge
of the reviewer’s final rating before you read the review.
The reader is lead along the way to the reviewer’s final conclusion.
I remember suggesting the idea in my comments
back on your Battle Los Angeles review and you
indicated you had already been thinking of it.
The change works and looks good too.
This sounds like a great movie but Vic is it better than the hangover which you’ve compared it to because that movie bored me to tears it wasn’t funny to Me at all especially after id seen most of the better bits in the trailer so should I save my cash and wait till the dvd for this one
lumpy,
I don’t know your tastes so I can’t answer. If you didn’t like Hangover I don’t imagine you’d like this – but who knows? I liked them both.
Vic
I liked the hangover but after awhile it just died on me lol. Ill give this one a shot though
I’m so pleased to hear that not only was this an enjoyable movie, but that the heavyset woman was hilarious. It’s refreshing to see a fat person in a movie who’s not reduced to being a smelly, bumbling idiot.
In short, I was pleasantly surprised by the whole review and I look forward to seeing it tomorrow night.
Yay can’t wait for this movie!
Im kinda upset with the fact this got more stars than thor. for the content that was translated from the book, thor was exceptional. it could have used 20 min more on earth but movies need to be shaved down for time because todays kids that are being taken cant sit still that long (sadly). ive seen trailers for bridesmaids and havent gotten much of a laugh out of them, though im not a huge fan of apatow movies at least the ones he writes and directs. but i did enjoy hangover which this is compared too. this movie just seems like the girls that hear they guys party hard (hangover) and respond with “oh yea, well we could so do that too!” but i just dont think they can. this movie to me is rental quality. way to many great movies out this summer to waste my hard earned money on this one.
I am aware apatow did not write or direct this just not a fan of those style films, it was co written by wigg, who i used to really like, until she became played out on snl as the goofy girl that talks funny and makes faces all the time.
I can see the future… I tweeted this yesterday:
http://twitter.com/screenrant/statuses/68176241261416448
Vic
Thanks for your latest review. I’m a recent convert to the site, and I find the content interesting, and the reviews to be fair. I agree with Thor’s 3.5 rating. I’ll check out Bridesmaids later this weekend (matinee, of course).
Speaking of ratings, Vic, is there any superhero movie that you gave a 4 or 5 stars too?
Thanks, chetc.
I’ve given 4+ star reviews to:
Watchmen
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Batman Begins
Vic
comment above in reference to Magnolia Fan and to Vic cant disagree with any of those movies they were all awesome ,but i still need to see hellboy 2
You ARE psychic! Thanks for the review – loved the movie. I laughed harder than I have a while. I agree, this is not for everyone but I sure enjoyed it!
i salute you for that comment mate
and i can see, hangover 2 will get 3 stars, or 3.5 stars …
hey your very last line reads “i havent laughed this hard since last year’s comedy the hangover.”
i believe the hangover came out two summers ago, just a heads up.
and to add my 2 cents on dan f’s comments,
he was obviously joking people, with the man card!!!
the other comments seemed to try to protect vic?
but failed…
“I don’t think I’ve laughed this loud and this much during a comedy since last year’s The Hangover.”
this is the line, my apologies.
People who are familiar with Dan F know that sometimes he is NOT joking so it can be hard to tell sometimes. Nit a slam Dan, just an observation.
Not
hmmmm Quite honestly I have yet to see a commercial/advert for this. I dont watch that much TV though and maybe I can fool my wife into thinking its a chick flick and do something special for her……
OMG Honey I didnt know!
My girlfriend wants to see this because she loves Kristen Wiig, so I plan on taking her to see it. Lord knows she really doesn’t like to see many of the same movies I do. LOL.
Vic, you just changed my weekend plans .
I was looking for a comedy ,I was going to see Something Borrowed ,
looks like I just switched to Bridesmaids.
WHO WOULD GIVE THIS 4 STARS AND THOR 3 AND HAFT? YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. “SMDH”
I GUESS YOU’RE TAPPING INTO YOUR FAMINE SIDE HUH?
TERRARTS,
I went over your last few comments – you’re really elevating the level of discussion here on the site *cough*.
And I’m not hungry, no. 8)
Vic
Well played, Captain Holtreman!
OK, I know most people put LOL when they don’t really “laugh out loud” (it’s way overused, IMO)- but I TOTALLY laughed out loud with your famine/hungry comment.
Vic, I can’t believe you’ve never seen Kristen Wiig on SNL!!
Jose,
The last time I watched SNL Eddie Murphy was still a regular on the show.
Vic
my mom said she liked this, i was working so i didn’t get to go, but she said it was absolutely hilarious in some parts, and that the other members of the audience were laughing with her as well.
so just saw about an hour and a half of this movie last night, i have to go with dan f on this flick. the movie just fell flat for me, i enjoyed thor hell of a lot more than this mess.
I watched an hour of this before the people I was seeing it with (2 guys and a girl) said they were beyond bored and wanted to leave. The theatre had a total of 10 people in it and the movie wasn’t getting a whole lot of laughs… except from me.
I went back the next day with a girlfriend and her mom and a theatre full of people and I really enjoyed it. It was funny and something I found more geared toward women. I don’t quite get the comparison to “The Hangover.” Other than the food poisoning scene I felt like it was just really good comedy, not necessarily in “The Hangover” vein.
My Daughter who is 50 and has a daughter saw Bridesmaids, she said it was so funny go see it. Well,it was funny. There were only a few women in the afternoon show and when the foul mouth filthy words kept coming and getting more discusting,you could hear the ghasps, I walked out. Imagine your young children hearing this filthy mouth woman. As a child I was influenced by movies, I pity the generation with no graces. What a vulgar society is on its way. No morals or scruples either. Pleas don’t lets young girls go see this Hollywood might get the message. to clean up the act.
Yvonne if you had bothered to stay you would have watched the discussion between Megan and Annie.Annie was feeling sorry for herself and down and out when Megan then said she isnt the only one with problems in this world.She used to get things thrown at her in high school get called all names and she went out read every book in the library and worked her way to an amazing job.
You would have heard Megan say to Annie…”I refuse to associate myself with people who blame the world for their problems,you are your problem but you are also your solution”.That at times when people feel down and out this is inspiring!
You can only have opinion if you go for the full ride Yvonne.