BRIDESMAIDS

US, 2011, 125 minutes. Colour.
Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa Mc Carthy, Jill Clayburgh, Wendi Mc Lendon- Covey, Ellie Kemper, Rebel Wilson, Matt Lucas, Chris O’ Dowd, Richard Riehle.
Directed by Paul Feig.

There’s a trend, very popular at the world box-office (Western countries only, I presume) to have movies from the US about weddings. Well, not exactly weddings (though we find ourselves attending one are at the end), but what happens before the wedding. And this trend favours men behaving badly. There were Wedding Crashers, and now there are buddies of The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, selling tickets like mad. Women behaving badly? There was a British film earlier with Helena Bonham Carter called Women Talking Dirty. Which could be the title of Bridesmaids where there are American women talking dirty.

But, when it comes to women behaving badly on screen in movies like Bridesmaids, they are actually much better behaved than the men – and that’s despite a bout of stomach poisoning at a Brazilian restaurant with dire consequences at a wedding gown boutique (much less crassly explicit than one would be led to believe) and the maid of honour getting everyone put off a Vegas-bound flight because of the whiskey she was given to calm her apprehensions only to let loose her hidden loutish side. Plus various conversations.

Bridesmaids is much more entertaining than The Hangover 2. There is actually far more humanity here.

Perhaps the reason is Jud Apatow (who directed The Forty Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up) who produces here. There is what can be called ‘The Jud Apatow Syndrome’. The films start wit some pretty crass behaviour and language but gradually they show more heart and, by the end, some happy, even moral, resolutions.

Kristin Wiig, who co-wrote the screenplay has the central role of Annie, whose life has taken a quickly downward spiral. We immediately see her in a casual relationship with a callow male, in an awkward situation with her flatmates wanting rent, having closed down her cake shop during the recession, and making more than a hash of advising customers in a jewellery shop (projecting her uncertainties on to them). Her mother (Jill Clayburgh in a final role) fusses – and, though not an alcoholic, sponsors people to AA. Her best friend, Lilian (Maya Rudolph) is proposed to – and wedding plans are on.

Annie is to be matron of honour but finds herself upstaged at every turn by the wealthy, vain (but ultimately lonely) Helen (Rose Byrne very effective in a non-sympathetic role). There are three other bridesmaids, including the solidly builit sister of the bridegroom Megan, (Melissa McCarthy), who has a lot of the funny (and crass) situations but is one of the wisest of the bridesmaids.

In fact, a lot of the film is quite funny, some of it despite ourselves. It seems to reflect a lot of the 30 something angst about love and commitment, falling in and out of relationships that are shallow, finding the miseries in life. The males are in the background, though Chris O’Dowd? as a New York cop who will be Annie’s salvation after enduring her inconsistency and inconstancy makes a sympathetic male presence.

But, in Apatow-produced films, there is a do the right thing resolution of the problems.

1. The box office success? Appeal? To women’s audiences? Women behaving badly? Female comedy?

2. Women behaving badly – and equal time as men behaving badly?

3. Female sensibility, characters, writing? Issues? Coping or not? Conversations, chat, language, coarseness? Sexual issues? In comparison with men’s parallel characters and situations?

4. The title, the expectations, wedding, engagement, matron of honour, preparations, the shower, the ceremony, problems?

5. The focus on Annie? Initially with Ted, the sexual encounter, his calling her up, his not wanting her to stay over? Male chauvinism? Annie accepting of this? Swinging on the gate? The comic aspects of her life? Sadness? Her flat, Brynn and Gil? The brother and sister? Interfering with her things, reading her diary? The issue of the rent? Wanting her to leave? Her mother, not staying with her? The cake shop, its failure – and the sign outside? Her new job, her attitude towards the customers, projecting her problems onto them, her boss and his indignation? Her finally being sacked? Moving out of the apartment? Her life on a downward spiral?

6. Annie and Lillian, their friendship, from childhood, the years passing, chatting, revealing secrets? The proposal? Annie to be matron of honour?

7. Lillian in herself, her parents, her father and his eccentricity? Her range of friends? Her flat? Love for Doug? The new friendship with Helen?

8. The announcement at the party? Annie and her car, the taillights, Rhodes and the booking, her arguing herself out of the case? His knowing her cakes and appreciating them? At the party, her being overwhelmed? The rivalry with Helen, the introduction? Each giving speeches to better the other? The language? The songs?

9. Annie and Rhodes, the meeting, hanging out together, using the speedometer, the night together, his preparing the cooking utensils, Annie being upset, walking out on him? His being hurt?

10. Helen, her marriage, wealth, alone, her husband away, her angry stepsons? Her talen as an organiser, taking over? Friendship with Lillian? Best friends? The rivalry with Annie? Contacting the others to propose aspects of the marriage preparation? The trip to Las Vegas, at the dress boutique, at the Brazilian restaurant, at the shower? Her speeches, smugness? Annie’s outburst against her? Asking Annie to help her search for Lillian? The reconciliation? The song at the end of the wedding? The proposal to meet for meals?

11. Rita, blonde, her style, her children, her marriage? Becca, just married, with her husband, prudish, the two drinking together, the kiss?

12. Megan, Doug’s sister, her size, bluntness, language, on the plane, talking to the man, guessing he was an air marshal, his going into action against Annie? The dress shop, being sick, in the sink? The shower and taking all the dogs? Going to see Annie, offering her friendship and support? The postscript at the end with the film and the marshal?

13. The accumulation of episodes, the meal at the Brazilian restaurant, the dress, the behaviour in the shop, the women getting sick, in the bathroom, in the street? Helen and her phone calls and ideas, Annie being last? On the plane, first class, Helen giving Annie the whisky, her behaviour, her having to be controlled, off the plane? On the bus back home? The shower and Annie’s outburst?

14. Annie at her low ebb, getting the car fixed, Rhodes and his messages, her ignoring them? Her discussions with her mother? Her mother and the background of AA? Going to the shower? The effect of her outburst? Her angers?

15. The search for Lillian, going to the apartment, the reconciliation, the reconciliation with Helen?

16. Making the cake, leaving it at Rhodes’ door, seeing the racoons eating it? Their trying to get Rhodes’ attention on the road, the various antics in the car with Helen? His ignoring them? His turning up at the end of the wedding – the reconciliation?

17. The films of Judd Apatow – beginning with people behaving badly, going through crises – and then reconciliations, settling down, a more moral anchor in their lives?