There seems to be a lot of fear floating around the internet that seeing Bridesmaids might make men’s wieners fall off, but if the reviews are any indication, that is either not true or the film is funny enough to that it’s worth it. “Guys, it’s not only safe to see Bridesmaids this weekend, you totally should,” /Film’s Germain Lussier raves, later adding,”I think Bridesmaids is the funniest film that Judd Apatow has put his name on.” Over at that the New York Times, Manohla Dargis praises Bridesmaids, saying the actors “offer irrefutable proof that along with producing and starring in a hit TV series (thank you, Tina Fey), women can go aggressive laugh to aggressive-and-absurd laugh with men. All they need, beyond talent and timing, a decent director and better lines, is a chance.” Says Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams, “It’s a movie that succeeds, often beautifully, not by forcing its characters to be as naughty and gross and pathetic as men are. It soars by letting them be as naughty and gross and pathetic as women are. Three cheers for equality.”
If there is anything to dislike about the film, it’s reportedly the rapid-fire switch back and forth between bodily function humor and genuine emotion. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers, who clearly hasn’t seen Strangers With Candy, admonishes “Guys and gross make a better fit. Who needs to see bridesmaids puking up lunch and shitting their pants?,” but even he praises Wiig as a “comedy goddess” in a film written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo but schizophrenic with Apatow influence. “It’s no surprise that Bridesmaids sputters, coughs, and lurches, but it’s a winning shambles,” says the A.V. Club’s Scott Tobias about the film’s attempts to appeal to all audiences, confirming that it stays “buoyed by a sharp, balanced comedic ensemble and some truthful observations about how close friends adapt when their lives fall out of step.”
I also wrote a Bridesmaids review myself over at VH1’s TheFABlife, though I can pretty much sum it up by saying that Melissa McCarthy’s performance alone makes the movie worth seeing, preferably tonight. “Wiig’s behavior on the flight to Vegas would win the respect of Lucille Ball,” gushes Roger Ebert. “Yet the movie has a heart. It heals some wounds, restores some hurt feelings, confesses some secrets, and in general, ends happily, which is just as well, because although there are many things audiences will accept from women in a comedy, ending miserably is not one of them. That may be sexist, but there you are.” And there you are again, buying tickets on Fandango.
