Lots of laughs!

And so the masses cried out,”Where is the twenty-something gross-out comedy for women?” and lo, the gods of cinema did smile and outpoured Bridesmaids, the latest effort from producer Judd Apatow, the genius mind behind such films as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

The movie centers on Annie (Kristian Wiig, who also wrote the screenplay), whose best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph), is about to get married. Her newest friend (Rose Byrne), a type-A who organizes everyone’s parties/lives, appears to be stealing away affection from Annie who starts to go slowly mad. Annie’s life hasn’t been in the best of shape anyhow since she lost her business, lost all her money, lost her job and her apartment. Having this added stress on top of it doesn’t make things easier and though she eventually gets a new boyfriend in the form of an Irish immigrant cop (Chris O’Dowd), her life remains chaotic and unhappy. Mind you, this is a comedy.

And for the most part, it’s a very funny! It’s rude and crude in parts (particularly in a scene in a bridal shop), but those parts are funny, so I’m fine with that. I will say the movie starts off very strong, sags significantly in the middle (the airplane scene went on way too long), and recovers somewhat in the end. There’s still some laughs in the later parts, but the first portion of the movie is where most of the fun is to be had. I will also say that the first part is strong enough to make up for the sagging parts in the middle.

This isn’t a perfect movie, but it is fun and it is worth seeing. Hopefully it will be the start of a trend where people write good comedy films about women and their relationships, much as they have with men. This movie stands well on its own, but if it’s the start of something bigger, I’ll be quite pleased.