Bridesmaids

I walked into Bridesmaids ready to be won over. The trailers were good, the reviews were amazing and the amount of talented people in front of and behind the camera practically guaranteed that I would be laughing nonstop for the next 2 hours.

Sadly, it was not meant to be. Bridesmaids is an overlong and wildly over hyped comedy that desperately wants to be better than it is.

Part of me wants to blame my own expectations I had for the film, which were admittedly high, but I just can't quite seem to buy that. I've seen almost every single film Judd Apatow has been involved with, be it directing or producing, and I had yet to be even a little disappointed with any of the results. Bridesmaids director Paul Feig co-created Freaks and Geeks with Apatow and has directed some of the very best episodes of The Office. Two shows that, when at their best, have been both side splittingly funny and heartfelt at the same time. Then of course, there is Kristen Wiig, who is one of the very best female comedians working in TV and film today. So I think I was perfectly justified in expecting nothing but the best from everyone involved. So what went wrong?

First off, this movie is filled with comediennes and actresses that are more than ready to give the material their all, but are let down by the fact that the material just isn't there. There are plenty of opportunities and moments that promise big belly laughs but somehow only deliver slight chuckles, mainly because they are situations that we have not only seen before, but have seen done better. Don't get me wrong, I love poop and vomit jokes as much as anyone, but it really feels like Bridesmaids is relying too much on the fact that its girls doing the pooping and vomiting this time around instead of men.

Let me be clear now, I don't think this movie is unfunny because of the fact that it stars women. I think this movie is unfunny because, well, it's just not that funny. Every single one of the titular bridesmaids have proven themselves in the world of comedy at some point, yet the movie either does not know how to use them, or it doesn't use them at all. I mean, how can you have Tim Heidecker and Maya Rudolph play a couple and not even have them say one word to each other in the entire movie?!

I think that's what has frustrated me most about Bridesmaids, that it turned out to be a great big wasted opportunity. I can't say I hate the film, or even strongly dislike it. In fact, I appreciated a lot of the quieter moments between Wiig and Rudolph. The two are real life friends and it shows in their conversations, adding some depth and believability to their on screen friendship, something which can help a comedy go from good to great. Unfortunately for Bridesmaids, there's not enough comedy here to even call it a good one. Instead, most of the laughs either fall flat or don't hit hard enough, resulting in not only my first true disappointing experience with Apatow and company, but also one of the first big disappointments of the year.