The Love, the Hate, the Wedding

If you’re a woman, or you know/love/hate a woman, you also know that some of us can be a wee bit intense when it comes to our relationships with other women.

I mean, c’mon ladies. Fess up. Don’t tell me that you haven’t had it out with your best girlfriend, or your mother, or your sister, or longed to have it out with your female boss, or developed a “personal” relationship with a movie star in US magazine…  The amount of time, energy and soul that gets poured into a woman’s relationships with other women in her life who she either loves or hates, well, it’s nothing short of epic. (Take that, Thor!)

Thankfully, Bridesmaids gets this about women. In fact, I’ve never seen a movie that gets it more.

When we first meet Annie (Kristen Wiig) her first business, a bakery, has just failed and her boyfriend has left her. Now, Annie is trying to delude herself into thinking that Ted (Jon Hamm), the jerk who is using her for a booty call, might be boyfriend material. Her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph), assures Annie that there is a good man out there who will love her for who she is. Unfortunately, the next thing Annie knows, Lillian is also telling Annie that she’s engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Doug. Will Annie be Lillian’s maid of honor?

Things get worse from there. The bridal party is made up of Doug’s boss’ wife Helen (Rose Byrne), a rich, gorgeous, Type-A competitor bent on making Lillian her best friend; Becca (Ellie Kemper), a naïve, sexually repressed newlywed; Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a miserable, horny, overwhelmed mother of three boys, and Doug’s sister Megan (Melissa McCarthy), a woman who dresses like a man but seems to love sex like a porn star.

Mayhem ensues, of course, and Kristen Wiig gets to display her gifts as both straight woman and comic. Maya Rudolph is perfect as the best friend and bride just trying to protect her special day, and Rose Byrne is heartbreaking as a trophy wife who can’t help but compete. In my opinion, however, it’s Melissa McCarthy who steals the movie. Her portrayal of Megan as a woman who doesn’t know how—or care to—be anyone but herself is truly inspired.

You’d think from this review that Bridesmaids is a chick flick, but it isn’t. The humor veers from physical and cringe-inducing to deeply relatable and moving. There’s also a very cute, wise-cracking cop named Nathan Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd) to represent the “sane,” male point of view as Annie’s life is falling apart due to the wedding of her best friend. Men in the audience will relate to him completely.

5 Patches out of 5

Overheard in the Ladies Room:

“That was great!”

“Oh, my god.  Hilarious!”

“Who was that cop guy? He was so cute!”

“I don’t know, but he had an accent. Was he Irish?”

“I think so. Oh, my god, that movie was so hilarious!”

About this column: Lis Peery is a writer and producer. She recently relocated to Orange County. Her favorite movies (for now) are Philadelphia Story, The Godfathers Part 1 & 2, Caddyshack, The Big Lebowski and Departures.