Bridesmaids Trailer: Initial Impressions

Oh, wow.  I am super conflicted about this:

This movie looks like it might entertain me and irritate me in equal measure.  It looks both feminist and anti-feminist, both stupid and smart, both original and cliched, all at once.

I could wait until the movie actually comes out to write a review…but where’s the fun in that?  I’d much prefer to analyze its worth based on the 2:21 minutes I’ve seen so far.

The Feminist Argument: The movie is produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Paul Feig, the producers/writers behind Freaks and Geeks, which gave us some of the most realistic, well-rounded female characters I have seen on television in Lindsay Weir and Kim Kelly.  Kristen Wiig, the star, co-wrote the script with Annie Mumolo – it’s a movie about women written by women.  The female characters interact with each other, and even though the movie is about a wedding, it doesn’t seem to be about “landing a man” at all, but about planning a good wedding for their female friend.  I especially enjoy that, even though there are a few catty or insensitive remarks here and there, it’s not a Bride Wars or You Again where the comedy lies in women being shrieking harridans who physically and verbally tear each other down.  It strikes me more as a female buddy comedy.  I want more movies where women get to be as ridiculous and silly as men and go on wacky adventures together.  I also like Melissa McCarthy’s unapologetically butch character so far who can’t even tell whether she burped or farted.  (I freely admit that I am not so high-brow that I can’t enjoy a good fart joke).

The Anti-Feminist Argument: The movie is directed by Judd Apatow, who is responsible for movies where the female characters are treated with varying levels of disrespect – The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad (by far the worst of the lot).  The fact that two women wrote the movie does not necessarily make it feminist.  Of course a movie about women has to be about a wedding.  As much as I want movies about women going on wacky adventures together, comedies that center on women often cast men as the put-upon good guys who have to deal with these kerr-aaazy bitches and their kerr-aaazy hormones because they’re all on their periods at the same time.  (It doesn’t mention period jokes in the trailer, but if the movie has no references at all to periods or women’s cycles syncing up, I’ll eat my hat).  And while Melissa McCarthy’s character looks amusing, of course the fat woman has to be the one making the inappropriate sexual comments (because fat women who like sex and talk about it are gross! and it’s funny because it’s gross!), the inappropriate violent comments, and the burping and farting jokes.  Of course.  That’s original.

Other Notes: The female cast looks terrific.  Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, and Wendy McLevon-Covey have great comic credentials among them.  The male characters don’t look like they have much to do, but the two that stood out to me are played by Jon Hamm and Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd), so I think they could still be quite funny.  Still, it looks very formulaic, not so much a clever twist on an old genre as just another example of a tired old genre that has people with vaginas in the lead roles, that might be funnier than the typical formulaic comedy because of a strong cast.

My Decision: If my friends decide they want to see this, I’ll gladly tag along because it could be a fun girly outing, but it doesn’t intrigue me enough to see it on my own.