Movie Review: Bridesmaids

In the newly released comedic movie, "Bridesmaids," our star Kristen Wiig, who plays the maid of honour, Annie, attempts to help her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) make her wedding a memorable event in spite of the efforts to sabotage her by fellow bridesmaid Helen (played by Rose Byrne). The all-star cast is comprised mainly of Saturday Night Live and The Office stars, and with these talented actors as well as director, Paul Feig, what could go wrong? "Bridesmaids" is a comedic movie with potential that starts off strong but ends up in a rather lack-luster place.

To talk about comedic timing, improvisational skills, or the overall comedy of this production, one would have to call most of it genius. The jokes are audience accessible and natural. The script is well written to allow for comedic play, and one can assume a certain amount of flexibility and improvisation in each scene. Interestingly, what starts out as a side-splitting situational comedy turns slowly into a chick-flick style drama.

This transition isn't a new one- think of any of the movies starring Adam Sandler- most start off very comedic, then slowly transition into a serious sometimes moral theme. That being said, "Bridesmaids," a self-proclaimed "comedy" makes an abrupt u-turn and this leaves the audience wanting.

In the beginning of the movie, the audience is the laughing observer- we're not invested in how she feels per-say, rather we're reveling in her misery and embarassment. Then, when the movie turns to more of a serious (and might I say depressing) theme we're suddenly supposed to feel for her?

When you have a character who is experiencing hardships, the audience can do one of two things- they can laugh, or they can cry. There's no real reason to cry for Annie, and yet half way (or maybe 3/4 of the way) through the movie, the audience can't help but stop laughing at her. She's too depressing to be funny! And as the whole movie actually revolves around the life of one bridesmaid not the bridesmaids, the more appropriate title would be, "Maid of Honour," which probably would have given us all a better sense of what it was about. (Take"The Hangover" which was also billed as a crazy bachelor party... much like Bridesmaids was... if that movie was about one guy and his struggles with being the best man, we'd all be a little confused, right?)

Again, all I can say is:

• The actors: All-star
• The initial comedy: Genius
• The story-arc: Interesting
• How you feel after you've watched it: It was headed in the right direction, but ran out of steam

I'm giving Bridesmaids a:  Brave rating
It had all of the elements of a great comedy, but somewhere along the way someone couldn't decide if they were going for the cheap laughs or some true feeling. Make up your minds guys, and you've either got a fantastic comedy or a pretty heart-felt drama.

"Bridesmaids"

Brave***