when you're still chuckling with your date a couple of hours after a movie's end, you have to say it was woth the ten bucks. when you're recalling lines & scenes the next day, you feel like you got a bargain. when the movie of note has been in SUMMERtime theaters for six weeks, amid ubiquitous kidflicks, actionflicks and comicbook heroes come to life flicks, you might could claim this one's gonna be a classic in the realm of "holy grail" and "animal house". you could-- if you were, say kristen wiig, judd apatow or annie mumolo, the triad of film genius that produced said movie.
now maybe film has become so weak or my own tastes have become so jaded, that i'm like a starving woman with a bowl of stone soup. but i think not. this movie has a distinct apatow tone to it, like wiig and mumolo cut their teeth on his prior movies. there's a scene with a gynecologist lifted directly from "knocked up" , but you know, sincere flattery is always appreciated, especially by the money man. but in contrast to an apatow movie, the women's characters are developed while the men's stay one dimensional. as a woman, i kinda like that turn. i also like the tone used by wiig and mumolo who bring "chick flick" squarely into the current century with their character explorations.
ok, yes, there's a lot typecasting happening but somehow the jokes surrounding the stereotypes make them more human. instead of a typically "female" undertone, there's a bending of previously gender specific typing. the one most memorable to me is how wiig's character annie acts "like a man" after a one night stand with the guy the audience is sure she should permanently hook up with. also the fact that annie seems to be at loose ends due more to the failure of her business than the fact that she's the fuck buddy of her former boyfriend. she knows he's last year's news but she has her needs.
the bride/marriage dream is deconstructed in various ways, through five bridesmaids'& a bride's current situations. that's also refreshing to me, rooted as i am in the first generation where a woman's dreams could realistically be other than "wife and mother". maya rudolph's bride is foil in this comedy.the cause for a hilarious rivalry between annie, her friend since childhood and helen, her best friend come lately. the comedian melissa mccarthy (damn, does comedy run in families? imbd says she's jenny's cousin) is hilarious in her role as the gender bending sister of the groom. wendi mclendon of reno 911 is the stereotypical unhappy housewife & mother of 3 boys who just wants to be able to take the tags off her new top during the bachelorette party she insists must be in vegas. on the way there, we see her digging at the crack in the new marriage of the office's ellie kemper's girl next door character. innocence in this day and age? how? let's not forget marrying for money, admirably stereotyped by the perfect rose byrne as the perfect helen.
the eye candy alone should be enough to entice your male date to go see this chick flick. but if that doesn't work, just mention apatow and "pineapple express". that should get him into the seat. keep a tissue handy, to wipe away the tears he'll be shedding because he can't stop laughing. or go see it with your girlfriends, as a prelude to the summer wedding season. it'll put being always a bridesmaid into perspective.