BRIDESMAIDS

Poor Annie: her artisan cake shop recently failed and her boyfriend subsequently left her. Her current job stinks, her roommates are freakish, her mother participates in AA even though she is clearly not an alcoholic, and she sleeps with a handsome man who teats her like a whore. Her only constancy is Lillian, her best friend from childhood. If Annie has fallen on hard times, Lillian’s fortunes are rising as she

becomes engaged to her wealthy, banker boyfriend. Lillian asks Annie to be her Maid of Honor, but it all goes sour when Beth, one of the bridesmaids, strives to take control of all the wedding plans and even displace Annie from her “best friend” status. Beth is everything Annie is not: fabulously wealthy, confident and well connected. Yet Beth craves what Annie has, an authentic intimate friendship with Lillian.

As Annie gets to know Beth and the other bridesmaids, the entire process becomes a hilarious competition between Annie and Beth. It is a competition that Annie is losing almost from the instant it begins and continues to propel Annie’s downward spiral. The only positive thing in Annie’s life is a blossoming friendship and romance with a kindly police officer, but even that sours when Annie is incapable of responding to his genuine kindness and respect.

Bridesmaids is a comic study in human indecency coupled with a really bad case of Murpy’s Law. All the bridesmaids are suffering from loneliness, yet they are unable to bring any measure of comfort to each other, because they are wallowing in their own denial and self-absorbtion. This parade of dysfunction can be hysterically funny, but the laughter never goes critical (as they say in nuclear weapons parlance). The laughs are there but they simmer rather than explode. The cast, headed by Kristin Wiig (who also co-produced and co-wrote the film with Annie Mumulo) is superb, and the script tells a well-developed story that has the courage to hold no punches in its outlandish humor, disgusting imagery, and heartbreaking tenderness. I suspect the laughter is capped because of the Chekhovian tension between the comic eccentricity and bittersweet reality of the characters. There are just enough laughs to keep you from crying and just enough sadness to keep you from laughing with gusto. All in all, a satisfying evening.

Kristen Wiig is exquisite as Annie. Her vulnerability and femininity are sustained throughout the many physical and emotional indignities she is forced to endure. Maya Rudolph also gives an excellent performance as Lillian. The talented ensemble, which features many familiar faces from other NBC Universal ventures, is as funny as it is affecting. The late Jill Clayburgh plays Annie’s eccentric, but loving mother in what turned out to be her final screen performance. Jon Hamm makes an uncredited appearance as Annie’s narcissistic lover. Hamm makes a wonderful douche bag and it is impressive to see such an extraordinarily handsome actor render himself ugly just by being a loathsome cad. Now that’s a real actor!

While there is much to like about this film, is it appropriate for your Brownie daughter? The film is full of foul language and many comic sexual situations which are no less intense because of their humor. The film comprises several scenes involving the nastiest of bodily functions which give Slumdog Millionaire a run for its money in terms of its repulsiveness. Perhaps most damaging is exposing your daughter to so much adult angst at such a tender age. Let your daughter enjoy her childhood so that there is a glimmer of hope that she does not grow up to be like any one of the ladies from this film.

Bridesmaids. I give it 2 Samoas.