Bridesmaids
(Starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm)
Really great, heartfelt comedies are about as rare as pretty bridesmaid dresses. This movie is gross, funny and honest. It even had audiences leaving the pre-screener saying, â┚¬Å”I wanna see that again!â┚¬Â That's like announcing that you want to wear a bridesmaid dress again: amazing!
Wiig is a lovable loser. She has lousy sex with Hamm, who is a blatant pig. She's also impoverished, her job sucks, her car is on its last legs, and her roommates are creepy. The only shining star is her friendship with Rudolph, who wants Wiig to be her maid of honor. However, Wiig has competition in Rudolph's new friend, Byrne, who is rich, pretty, and suave at planning over-the-top events. Thus begins some girl-on-girl rivalry for Rudolph's friendship. Along for the bumpy ride are three other misfit bridesmaids (McLendon-Covey, Kemper and McCarthy.)
McCarthy particularly is so adorably inappropriate that she almost steals the movie. When asked for a bachelorette party theme, she suggests, â┚¬Å”Female Fight Club: we grease up and beat the crap out of her. Surprise!â┚¬ÂÂ
You will laugh out loud as you wince. We've all fought for someone's affection like this, though maybe not to this extreme. Wiig tries to impress with her hipness, taking the girls to a downscale restaurant. Then the scene is elevated to gross-out hilarity when combined with an upscale bridal shop.
There seems to be a Hollywood philosophy that comedies either have to be stupid and loud (Anchorman) or quiet and sweet (Little Miss Sunshine). Bridesmaids producer Judd Apatow has done much to bridge those two extremes in films like Knocked Up and Superbad (though he's slipped a bit lately: Funny People, Get Him to the Greek). Here, Apatow rediscovers his mojo by letting women be as disgusting as his men.
The script by Wiig and her pal Annie Mumolo is a jewel, following Apatow's better examples but injecting some real soul. Wiig and the rest of the stellar cast are brilliant at comedy, but there's more that just that. Bridesmaids is truly a dress you'd want to wear again, because of its humanityâ┚¬â€Âmessy, disgusting and childish but always well meaning.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
(Starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey)
This fourth installment of the franchise feels like it was planned out by hyperactive 11-year-olds. There is a lot of â┚¬Å”wouldn't it be cool ifâ┚¬Â stuffâ┚¬â€Âneat-o special effects galore. What PotC4 totally lacks is a coherent, sensible, forward-moving story. It's frustrating to sit through a 138-minute blockbuster and feel like you're just treading water, being distracted by nonsense, pandered to, dragged along for a not entirely enjoyable boat trip.
This time Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa have been commandeered by the King of England to find the mystical Fountain of Youth. They have to get to it before the Spanish do, but they also have to beat the evil, magical Captain Blackbeard (McShane) and his daughter Cruz. Along the wayâ┚¬â€Âwhenever it's convenientâ┚¬â€Âwe discover that these slurring pirates also need to battle mermaids, find some silver challises, and climb up to a ship that (for no reason) is teetering on a cliff and booby trapped a'la Indiana Jones.
PotC4 leaves all sense behindâ┚¬â€Âit's almost absurdist cinema.
Take McShane's Blackbeard. He can control the ropes and rigging on his own ship. Then why does he need a crew? Why are half of his crew zombies? Why not all of them? Did Blackbeard make the zombies? Where did he get his magical power? Apparently we don't need to know.
Apparently, if the effects are dazzling enoughâ┚¬â€Âand they areâ┚¬â€Âyour brain quits working.
Take a stupid subplot with a priest (Claflin) and a mermaid (Berges-Frisbey). Why are these characters even here? They do almost nothing for the movie. Would audiences miss Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly so much that filmmakers had to shoehorn in another couple?
That's not to say that Depp, Rush, McShane and Cruz don't commit, and it's fun to watch the swaggering and swashbuckling. Plus there are a couple nifty cameos. However, after over two hours of this egregiously stupid plot, you'll feel like you were raped, pillaged and plundered.
