Brides­maids

The odds were always stacked against Brides­maids, a distaff com­e­dy ruck-about that emerged from the sta­ble of Judd Apa­tow and promised the impresario’s trade­mark blend of scat­o­log­i­cal wise­cracks mixed with squishy-on-the-inside sentimentality.

Here, the alleged­ly sexy hook (and, real­ly, Apatow’s increas­ing­ly enfee­bled prod­uct – from Year One to Fun­ny Peo­ple to Get Him to the Greek – is crav­ing a sexy hook) is based on the fact that the gags are the same, and so is the ban­ter­ing bon­homie, but the famil­iar pro­tag­o­nists (the fat one, the nerdy one, the cool one) have all had their penis­es removed and are now women (step for­ward Kris­ten Wiig, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph et al). Yep, the ladies have tak­en over the frat-house. And they’ve got a huge first act diar­rhoea set piece just to prove it.

And yet, the real shock here, in this sto­ry of pre-wed­ding ten­sions amongst six mis­matched brides­maids, is not that it’s axiomat­ic and Apa­tow-by-num­bers, but rather that it nego­ti­ates its way around that form with often thrilling orig­i­nal­i­ty. Thus, almost imme­di­ate­ly the savvy script, co-writ­ten by Wiig, offers more than just the usu­al post-fem­i­nist SATC-style obser­va­tions (although an effi­cient open­ing sex scene between Wiig’s Annie and errat­ic boyfriend Ted, played by Jon Hamm, nice­ly pil­lo­ries an entire gender’s stan­dard sex­u­al technique).

Instead, as Annie accepts the task of play­ing maid of hon­our to best friend Lil­lian (Rudolph), and as the pres­sure of the job, and the demands of pla­cat­ing five oth­er brides­maids, slow­ly forces her to unrav­el, the movie offers some painful­ly inci­sive com­men­tary on the unspo­ken com­pet­i­tive­ness under­ly­ing female friendships.

The con­spic­u­ous­ly unat­tached Annie’s fan­tas­ti­cal­ly deranged reac­tion to the news of Lillian’s engage­ment (a half-smile twist­ed into a ric­tus of hor­ror) is emblem­at­ic of an entire movie that is full of lit­tle digs and asides aimed at female rival­ry. It’s no won­der that the high­light of the movie is a vicious face-off between Annie, a jew­ellery store clerk by day, and a smart-mouthed teenage girl (the line, ​“You’re a lit­tle cunt!” has nev­er been so beau­ti­ful­ly delivered).

There are also prob­lems. It’s far too long, over-crammed with musi­cal mon­tages, and ham­pered by a hideous singsong finale. But, real­ly, bot­tom line: it’s the best thing Apatow’s put his name to in years.