By Dan Little
"Ey brah! Ya see that movie Bridesmaids with that chick from SNL?"
"Naw man, I don't see chick flicks, what are you gay?"
"Dude, shut up, go see it, its fuckin' hilarious."
I imagine and hope a lot of conversations like this happened between the usual viewer of the Apatow dynasty. Now I have seen many a chick flick, many "dude" films, and many rom-coms but I can't say I have ever seen anything quite like this. The Apatow canon is full of gross-out comedies with a sweet nougat center i.e. The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man, etc. Yet one thing defines them above all else...they are about men. They are films for men and about men. Bridesmaids tiptoed along and thought "well hey, anything they can do I can do better" and she was right.
Bridesmaids is the story of Annie played by Kristen Wiig. Wiig's Annie is a woman of the times. Her bakery went under during the recession, she is single, drives a run down car, lives with the two worst roommates ever, and works at a jewelry store. At least Annie has her best friend Lillian to rest her head on, that is until Lillian gets engaged. Annie is made her Maid of Honor and at the engagement party meets the titular bridesmaids and her arch-nemesis Helen. Helen, here played with such arrogance by Rose Byrne, is the it-girl of any wedding. Shes that special someone you want to have around when youre marrying that other special someone. She's wealthy, fabulous, and knows extravagance like it was her childhood friend. Helen and Annie are instantly at war and the rest of the film is a hilarious and often very sad journey for Annie as she comes to terms with her life as it is.
The tricky thing about top 10 lists is to avoid a full review and explain what really makes me love it so I wont go into detail about the bridal shop hilarity or the hijinks on the airplane or even how this film exquisitely shows that women are just as gross, vulgar, and raunchy as men. I do want to, however, touch on the depth of the film. The emotional core rests in Wiig's Annie. They don't come much more broken than Annie, and I think thats what made me relate to her. It is no secret to my friends that my year has been rough, and I will be the first one to admit that I kind of cried at a few places in the film out of sadness. I understand what Annie feels, I can see it in Wiig's eyes. This film took its raunchy roots and dug deep into an emotional center that is far from sweet and gooey, but rather empathetic, sad, and eventually restorative. Who knew a silly comedy with a bunch of chicks could be this insanely moving and delightful.
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