Bridesmaids

I've never been a huge fan of Apatow Productions. This is not to say that I have anything against their movies, just that, with the exception of Superbad, the humor doesn't resonate with me. However, Kate Beaton gave Bridesmaids a very positive review on her Twitter feed and many others have been calling it the female counterpart to The Hangover. This idea intrigued me, not to mention the fact that all the main characters were women and the script was written by two women. I had high hopes.

I must admit, I was disappointed. Despite some hilarious sequences (in particular, the one on the airplane and the one where Annie, the leading lady, tries to get Officer Rhodes' attention), its overall quality made me wish I'd downloaded it instead of paying for a ticket.

The main thing that made this movie fail for me was how predictable the female relationships were. Annie's antagonist was the bride-to-be's new best friend Helen. They spent most of the movie competing with each other because, hey, that's what women do, right? The portrayal of every main characters' sexuality was equally boring: Annie compulsively had unfulfilling sex with a "hot" jerk because she was afraid of being single. Supporting characters Becca and Rita each had husbands who they didn't enjoy sleeping with (due to inexperience and lack of communication in one case and rape in the other). In fact, the only character who actively enjoyed and sought out sex was Megan, the fat comic relief who was allowed to become a bridesmaid only because she was the groom-to-be's sister.

The unfortunate reality is that this interpretation of female relationships and sexuality is the mainstream, so I've come to expect it from most movies. I was hoping this one would be different, like Waitress or Mean Girls or Whip It, but instead it was a well-crafted comedy that failed to accomplish anything of interest.