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Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: September 20, 2011
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
Paul Feig's 2011 comedy smash hit Bridesmaids, co-written by star Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumulo, sees Wiig play a woman named Annie. Approaching middle age and still stinging a bit from the fact that her bakery business went under, she nevertheless has a great time hanging out with her best friend since way back, Lillian (Maya Rudolph). Though Annie is single, she can't help but feel a little more attached to her 'friends with benefits' partner, Ted (Jon Hamm) - but he's not interested in her as anything more than a sex object. When Lillian decides it's time to get married to her wealthy boyfriend (played by Tim Heidecker!), Annie accepts the offer to be her maid of honor, much to the dismay of Lillian's more recent and far wealthier friend, Helen (Rose Byrne), who can seemingly do no wrong.
As the wedding draws closer, Annie makes one misstep after another, first taking the bridesmaids - made up of not only Helen but friend and unhappy wife Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), sappy newlywed Becca (Ellie Kemper), and Lillian's future sister-in-law, the heavyset and seemingly loopy Megan (Melissa McCarthy) - out to eat at a restaurant where they get sick… just in time to try on dresses. From there she blows the bachelorette party and makes a few other flubs, though each time Helen is there to fix it, and to make damn sure that Annie knows it. This obviously starts to become a source of stress in the longstanding relationship between Annie and Lillian, and Helen is just waiting for her chance to knock Annie out of the picture all together. When Annie's strange brother-sister roommate team kick her out and she winds up moving in with her mother (Jill Clayburgh), the only shining light in her life appears to be a budding romance with an Irish cop (Chris O'Dowd) - but is Annie going to screw that up too?
Raunchy enough to stand out from the chick-flick crowd, Bridesmaids still manages to hit most of the requisite staples expected by the rom-com crowd, albeit with more poop jokes, masturbation jokes and nasty language than you get in your typical romantic comedy. For the most part, it works, but the film is still predictable and fairly cliché right down to the unrealistic sappy happy ending. This is all well and good and there's no harm in it, really, but let's be honest here - this isn't really all that different from other recent raunchy comedies like The Hangover, a film to which this one bares a fairly strong resemblance. With that minor rant out of the way, this is still a funny movie and one that'll probably appeal to guys as easily as it does to the stereotypical chick flick fan. The performances are what make the film work as well as it does, Kristin Wiig's lead turn in particular. She's great as Annie, doing not just a good job with the comedic aspects (no surprise there given her stint on SNL) but with the dramatic and heartfelt side of the movie as well. Rose Byrne is also very good as her foil, her polar opposite in many ways and a fairly sneaky, underhanded 'rich bitch' who wants to steal all the glory and Maya Rudolph is cute as the bride to be. The real scene stealer, however, is Melissa McCarthy as Megan. Though she at first seems to be the most insane character in the film, and in many ways she is, she of course becomes the voice of reason later in the movie. This film should be her Hangover, in that it should get her the sort of recognition that movie got Zach Galifianakis.
The Blu-ray included both the theatrical cut and the unrated cut of the film on the same disc with the unrated cut running about five minutes longer. Most of that extended running time is made up of dirtier jokes and gags.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encoded 2.40.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer is a solid one, just as you'd expect from a brand new movie like this one. The image shows great detail and depth and offers up a very nice film like image without any noise reduction or edge enhancement problems worth complaining about. There's bit of crush in the darker scenes but other than that, nothing to complain about here, the picture is excellent.
Also impressive is the English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. There's lots of surround activity in the more active scenes but also some nice, subtle background details to take in during the quieter moments. Dialogue is nice and clear, the score sounds good - again, nothing to complain about. Standard DTS 5.1 Surround Sound tracks are provided in French and Spanish with subtitles offered in English SDH, French and Spanish.
A lively commentary track from Director Paul Feig, Writer Annie Mumolo and cast members Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper kicks off the extra features and it's a fun listen. This doesn't turn out to be jam packed full of information, instead the focus is on humor and some of the odd and funny situations that came up during the making of the film but it's enjoyable enough in its own right.
Aside from that, the focus of most of the extras is on cut and extended material, starting with the twelve minute Line-O-Rama which is basically just a gag reel. Blind Date With Dave is a cut scene with Paul Rudd while the related Dave-O-Rama is a brief collection of outtakes from his character. In the Extended And Alternate Scenes section (sadly presented in SD while all the other material is in HD) there are fifty minutes worth of excised material, much of which is funny, while the Roommates section offers up a bunch of unused and deleted bits featuring, as you could probably guess, the weird brother/sister roommates Annie lives with. The Cholodecki's section includes a bunch of unused bits from Annie's time at the jewelry store while the four minute Drunk-O-Rama is a collection of deleted bits from Annie's insane rants that take place on the flight to Las Vegas. The three minute Pep Talk is some cut material from the tennis match while Annie Vs. Helen is seven minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes in which the two characters make snide remarks towards one another.
Made Of Honor: Behind the Scenes of Bridesmaids is a half hour segment that, unlike most of the other supplements, actually examines the behind the scenes side of the movie by way of some interesting footage and some cast and crew interviews. It's not particularly deep but it does at least give us some insight into where the performers were coming from and what it was like working on this project.
Rounding out the extras is a ten minute Gag Reel, nine minutes worth of deleted scenes, the complete version of the Wilson Phillips song Hold On that closes out the movie, menus and chapter stops. A digital copy is also included and the disc is BD-Live enabled.
The Final Word:
Bridesmaids couldn't possibly have lived up to the insane amount of hype that was built up around it when it theaters, but it is a pretty funny movie. The second coming of comedy? No, but worth seeing for some good performances and a few unforgettable gags. Universal's Blu-ray is impressive, piling on tons of deleted and extended bits and a few other extras as well, and presenting both cuts of the film in excellent quality.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
