Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig has been a stand out in the Saturday Night Live cast for some time now, and for those of us unwilling to stay up late for a show that is erratic at best we may have been missing out. Her talent has been noticed by Emmy voters recently, but it was in 2007 that Judd Apatow cast her as the snarky E! executive. Since she has grown into quite the starlet and has put all her talents together and teamed up with executive producer Apatow to star and co-write, along with Annie Mumolo, in the new comedy Bridesmaids.

Many may be quick to compare this movie to The Hangover but for women, and that is just not the case. While it is about one gender group before a wedding, The Hangover formula is completely situational and bases itself of making each moment bigger than the one before it. And not to say there aren't some great gross out moments to this movie, the oddly out of place dress shopping scene comes to mind, but that is not what this movie relies on. This would also seem to imply that this is just a movie for women, definitely the impression I had before taking my seat. While the characters may connect more with the womenfolk in the audience the humor sprawls across the genders.

Bridesmaids takes a buddy movie and makes the moments feel genuine. Movies about female friends have typically been about two girlfriends going after the same thing, whether it is a man, a job, or prize. That doesn't appear to be the case in this movie as Maya Rudolph plays the bride to be Lillian, while Wigg plays lifelong best friend Annie. The strain in this case seems to come from the paths each character is taking, while Lily seems to be achieving the American dream, Annie is struggling with life. At one point she had it all: her own business, a boyfriend, but with the economy playing a role she just as quickly lost it. Now she is stuck at a job she hates, living with an odd brother sister tandem and the occasional late night fling with an awfully handsome man played wonderfully by Jon Hamm. Without looking too deeply into the situation this seems to be an examination of class and how success can affect relationships.

Adding to Annie's stress is the new BFF on the scene. Trophy wife Helen, played by the perfectly cast Rose Byrne, is seeking to steal all of Annie's thunder and usurp her as the Maid of Honor. She is the type of girl who probably never got rejected and always made sure she got her way. She is the type of girl that almost everyone in the audience will immediately dislike. If you don't you just may be that girl, and if that's the case, blow it out your ass. Lillian seems to be drifting towards this lifestyle and away from Annie, compounding Annie's frustration.

The scene stealer in this movie is Megan played by Melissa McCarthy who you may recognize from the CBS comedy Mike and Molly. When you are not watching Wigg it is hard to watch anyone but McCarthy. She nails all her one liners and all the physical comedy in the movie and without a doubt generates most of the belly laughs. She outshines the other two bridesmaids played by Wendi McLendon-Covey from Reno 911 and Ellie Kemper from The Office. Wigg allows all these previously mentioned actors to be and lets them affect her until she finally lashes out. It is when she falls furthest that we feel the strongest for her character.

This comedy tells a genuine story of how the success of others can affect you, and takes an honest examination of what competition between two friends can look like when you are not actually competing for the same thing. And having seen the way girlfriends act around each other and when apart, I can gather this may be more accurate than the laughs let on. Wigg is brilliant in this movie and while she does great putting toether strings of jokes that could have any audience laughing for 5 minutes straight, she can also play it a little sweeter and show off a softer side. There have been a lot of people complaining about the newest cast of SNL, which is always the case as whenever you are watching it is inevitable that you will think the previous cast was better. But this recent ensemble has delivered quite a few movie stars and Wigg will surely be the next one to shine. A-