JILL CLAYBURGH (left) and Kristen Wiig in "Bridesmaids."
Too much of ‘Bridesmaids’ goes nowhere, can be cut
“Bridesmaids” was billed as the female equivalent of “The
Hangover” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
Sometimes the movie evokes a belly laugh, often scenes go
on too long without much funny going on.
Directed by Paul
Feig, star Kristen Wiig also
happens to be one of the writers.
Wiig plays a woman whose life is a mess. She opened a
bakery that bombed and works in a
jewelry store. She got the job because the owner’s Alcoholic Anonymous’ sponsor
happens to be her mother, played by Jill Clayburgh.
Clayburgh is one of many zany characters in this film.
She’s a long-time member of AA. The only difference between her and the other
members is she’s never drank.
Wiig’s character, Annie Walker, lives in an apartment she
shares with a brother and sister, a very weird brother and sister. Like, they
bathe together.
She regularly
sleeps with her sort-of
boyfriend, played by Jon Hamm. The film opens with a hilarious scene of the two
trying different sexual positions.
In her twisted mind, he’s a nice guy because he levels
with her. There’s no future. He wants sex and when he’s done, he wants her out
of there. And she accepts this situation.
We learn her childhood friend, played by Maya Rudolph, is
getting married and Annie is made of honor. Except one of the bridesmaids,
played by sorority type Rosey Byrne, is stiff competition to garner the
limelight.
At the party announcing the upcoming nuptials, the Wiig
and Byrne characters try to one-up each other on how important the bride is to
each other. One is forever grabbing the microphone from the other to get the
last word in. The whole sequence isn’t funny, runs too long and adds nothing to
the story.
Remember, this flick is 125 minutes long. Aren’t raunchy
films supposed to be over in 85 minutes, because fans get bored easily?
One of the attendants, played by Melissa McCarty, is a
lot of fun. She’s hefty, masculine but sees herself as thin and desirable. Her
skewed ideas about life add some much-needed bizarre humor to the film.
The bridesmaids take a flight to Las Vegas to party. A
conversation between McCarty and her seatmate, whom she thinks is a sky
marshal, is hilarious.
The Wiig character goes spastic during the trip and ends
up taking tranquilizers and booze, resulting in a drugged performance that
sort-of reminds you of something Lucille Ball would have done. Except Lucy
would have been funnier and less profane.
The plane ride was sort of funny and I anticipated the
crazy antics the girls would get in while in Sin City.
Except there’s no sequence. It’s cut out and soon they
are back home.
The Wiig character gets involved with a police officer
that doesn’t offer a lot of laughs.
For the most part, she messes up her life left and right
to the point you lose interest in her as a person. Can you really root for
someone for — what is it? — oh yeah, 125 minutes, makes all the wrong choices?
I have to admit a sequence in a swank bridal salon where
the bridesmaids suddenly get bouts of food poisoning is probably the best part
of the film.
Get rid of some of the sequences that go nowhere and you
would have a better movie.
BRIDESMAIDS
• Directed by Paul Feig
• Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
• Runtime:125 minutes
• Rated R for sex, language, bathroom exploits
• 2 stars out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment