Bridesmaids [2011]

October 9, 2011

Maybe the far-from-great week I’d been having put me in a very vulnerable place, but until Bridesmaids I’d never met a comedy that was as hilarious as it was depressing. Some of Annie’s (Kristen Wiig) failures felt like my own and affected me in ways I never expected from a film produced by Judd Apatow. Gloom aside, this is a relentlessly funny film, expertly written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo and finely acted by an incredible cast.

The star here, obviously, is Wiig. If this doesn’t put her on the map, nothing will. Her innate talent for comedy has been terribly underrated for years now. A few days ago, ‘Saturday Night Live’ producer Lorne Michaels even said she’s among the “top 3 or 4” performers in the history of the long-running show. In Bridesmaids, she absolutely owns the screen.

Melissa McCarthy, of Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly TV fame, is equally game in her portrayal of Megan, the wildest element among the titular bridesmaids. Kristen’s SNL costar Maya Rudolph (another comic goddess getting no love) is also of note. The ensemble is so strong I could go on praising each actor: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Rose Byrne, Jon Hamm and Chris O’Dowd deserve a mention too. Some sequences, namely the dress fitting and the airplane fiasco, are among the funniest I’ve ever seen.