Most of the time I’m perfectly in line with what other critics think, and we get to stand alone dissing movies that the general public goes to see in droves (hello Hop). Or sometimes I don’t like a movie the critics do, but since the general public doesn’t either, I don’t have to feel too alone. However, every once and a while, I don’t like a movie critics and the general public embrace (what the fuck Fast Five?) so I have to stand alone in dissing it. For the second time in only three weeks, that rare phenomenon is happening all over again.
It isn’t that I hate Bridesmaids or even that I think it’s worse than mediocre, it’s just that after rave reviews, sold out shows, and becoming a box office phenomenon, I expected a little more.
What Works: Some of the supporting bridesmaids really shine and steal the show…as much as they can from camera hog and co-writer Kristen Wiig. Some of the jokes really deliver…
What Doesn’t Work:…and some really don’t. The biggest and most central problem with this movie is Kristen Wiig. The movie is being advertised and shoved down our throats as this “Raise Your Glass” “Women Make Mischief” movie that promises to play on boy’s territory of raunchy gross outs, but I don’t remember The Hangover spending an hour watching its main character spiral down the drain of a depressing life. I actually like that Bridesmaids goes for a more soulful, realistic approach to the central character’s misery, but there’s no denying it’s not what the main audience is flocking to this movie for. Plus, Wiig isn’t the right actress to play a real person. She’s good at sketch comedy and stock characters, but as an actual, living, breathing, unironic human being she’s never seemed more like an alien. She has the defensive, prickly irony of a New York comedy queen, but I’m not convinced she can be a movie star.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Picked a style and stuck with it. Either the movie is Porky’s for women or it’s a sad little independent film most of the target audience avoids (even complete with a Canadian love interest), but trying to straddle both will probably make no one watch this movie several times.