Monday, May 30, 2011

Bridesmaids vs. The Hangover II

All week long we debated about which movie we were going to see on Sunday night: BRIDESMAIDS or THE HANGOVER II. For my part, I wanted to see HANGOVER. The last one was legendary and I was willing to bet my money on Bradley Cooper and the boys. Despite the rave reviews, I just could not figure how BRIDESMAIDS had any chance of being funny. But, my god, everyone just carried on and on about how great it was, and how bad HANGOVER was. We were finally swayed, and off we went for a Sunday night showing of this all-women comedy.

Going into this movie I tried to think of another all-female cast that delivered a genuinely funny flick. I could not think of one, but the critics acted as if we had a modern-day DUMB & DUMBER on our hands, so I was ready to laugh.

The first scene of BRIDESMAIDS is a silly bedroom scene with Kristen Wiig’s character. There was absolutely nothing humorous about it, but people in the theatre were screaming with laughter. Huuuhhhhh? But we weren't, and I was with a woman, obviously. This same trend continued for the next hour. Without giving anything away, I will say that every punch line was dragged out to the bitter end, every conflict was ridiculous, unrealistic, and unfunny, including the 20-minute scene with the dueling engagement party speeches. Despite the thunderous laughs that filled the theatre (again, huh?), I did not crack a smile the whole time. I truly have no idea what people are talking about, BRIDESMAIDS was awful. There were characters in the movie (Wiig’s female roommate for one) that, for some reason, sported silly accents, and at one point this roommate poured frozen peas across a tattoo on her back. Huh? Was that supposed to be funny? I just did not get this movie, and I know YOU probably thought it was funny, everybody says it was SO FUNNY!But it was a cliche, borefest all the way.

I hated BRIDESMAIDS. An hour into the movie, while the women cast members were spewing vomit all over each other while trying on dresses, projectile vomiting in all directions, we did something we have never done before: We walked out of the movie. We walked out of BRIDESMAIDS one hour in, and I was with a woman! We literally could not stand another second of it. And we've sat through THE LOVELY BONES and THE SWITCH from start to finish. All these reviews about the brilliance of BRIDESMAIDS, I don’t get it, chick-flick or not. Maybe women issues just aren’t funny to me. I tried to be open minded. And maybe it became TOMMY BOY in hour 2 and we missed it, but I doubt it. We BOTH hated it! It was awful.

You're probably saying, 'Brian, you're crazy and you're a guy.' To that I say, 'I ain't crazy and I ain't a guy.'

The fundamental problem to me is that when movies try to make female characters outrageous for comedy, it comes off crazy and kind of sociopathic. Don't believe me? See Bullock's character in ALL ABOUT STEVE. This whole thing Wiig does where she mumbles sarcastic and fast under her breath isn't funny for 2 straight hours. BRIDESMAIDS has one character (Melissa McCarthy) to answer the HANGOVER's outrageous, Galifianakis character, Alan. She's the whacky sister who relieves herself in a sink in one scene. But she's not funny or likeable at all. She's insane, disgusting. As moviegoers We LIKE Alan(Galifianakis)in the HANGOVER. He's actually funny! I would laugh at Alan in real life. The bridesmaids would terrify me in real life. All I've been hearing from people is that BRIDESMAIDS is so funny they were practically 'peeing' themselves in the theatre. I believed them. Shame on me.

As we walked out of BRIDESMAIDS, HANGOVER II was starting in the next theatre, so in we went. What can I say? THE HANGOVER was funny. I liked the look of the movie and the feel of it, we both did. Bangkok, very interesting and eerie-looking city. The boys delivered once again, and I won’t give anything away, but yes, the story arc was very much like the original, which was OK with us, because the original is the greatest comedy of its generation. I thought Todd Phillips (the movie’s director) still found ways to surprise, and we genuinely laughed out loud several times, albeit between some pretty formulaic moves (see Tyson cameo for that).

The biggest knock on HANGOVER II has been that it’s a retread of the first, in so many ways. Um, yeah, that’s usually what a sequel is. Rocky was still a boxer in ROCKY II, and he still wins the big fight. Did we dislike GODFATHER II because the characters are STILL In the mob? The HANGOVER has a 300-million-dollar formula and they followed it, and it was funny. But, Brian, it’s not as good as the original. No Duh. The original HANGOVER is the best comedy since DUMB & DUMBER. By the way, making a sequel to a great comedy isn’t simple. See MEET THE FOCKERS for that. HANGOVER II was a MILLION times better than FOCKERS.

Maybe I'm alone on this, but BRIDESMAIDS was unwatchable and the HANGOVER II was pretty good, well worth $20.00 in tickets. Truthfully, I might be unable to enjoy all-female casts, I get that. In fact I can’t think of a single funny movie with this formula, but please believe me, I did go in with an open mind, and I did pay money to see it, and I was severely disappointed, we both were. If you read what everyone else says, it seems we are way off, as reviews about this movie continue to crown it a comedic masterpiece. I simply didn’t get it. HANGOVER was far more clever, quicker, sharper, edgier. It was just better, all while being a retread, with a story we’ve seen already. What can I say? It wasn’t even close.

A reasonable review of BRIDESMAIDS: http://popcornjury.com/2011/05/new-movie-review-bridesmaids/

A reasonable review of HANGOVER II: http://www.flix66.com/2011/05/30/movie-review-hangover-part-ii-the-2/

Somebody swing by the Cat's Pajamas on Facebook and write me a 'reasonable' review.

Brian Huba
5/30/11

17 comments:

  1. Here I am thinking I was the only one that bridesmaids was awful. Terrible! I am in the same boat it was incredibly predictable, repetitious, and overhyped. I can't believe I wasted my money, gas and time on this pile of crap. Save yourself and don't see it. Trust me, my wife fell asleep. It was one of those movies that makes you go OOOOOOOOOGGGGHHHHH Really? Again?

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  2. look at you making such a big deal about the female cast in bridesmaids, like you're holding these actors and characters to a different standard. sexist pig. i feel sorry for your girlfriend.

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  3. I am a thirty year old female and I TOTALLY concur with you! I went to see Bridesmaids without any expectations and it was AWFUL - - and I'm being kind! The sexual jokes were too crass to be funny and the scatalogical humor lacked creativity and wit. I wanted to walk out of the movie, but since I didn't drive, I was forced to endure the 2 hours of my life I will never get back! What really baffled me was that everyone around me was laughing hysterically. Even stranger, was the varied demographics of the fellow moviegoers: a family of middle aged parents with adolescent aged children, teenage girls, a couple in their twenties, some guys in the mid 20s age range judging from their attire and behavior... Anyway, they were guffawing thru every lame, puerile, raunchy and predictable jokes. Aaaaarggh! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my opinion of Bridesmaids!

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  4. Oh, I just saw it last night and completely agree. I left the theatre nearly in tears, it was so disappointing and just wrong. I didn't laugh once in the entire movie. I'm a 32 year old woman comedy writer. I felt it really fell short of the "feminist" comedy it was purported to be. And the whole class structure thing really angered me. The rich people win out in the end, Annie has no bakery to keep, and the creepy cop takes her. No redemption, nothing.

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  6. You just dont know what funny is.....

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  7. bridesnades was horrible. not funny. it was all hyped up to be a female hangover but then it made females look bad with their unfunny jokes, boring storyline, and useless add ons (for example what was the point of her owning a bakery??) and i didnt even watch the end, i walked out it was so terrible.

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  8. Bridesmaids was so epic :P
    it worked for me and the women also felt very real to me, something that the movies never tend to portray women as.

    I did think Hangover was funny, but it's just refreshing to see a raunchy comedy starring females and not follow the standard chick flick formula.


    Remember that not everyone can enjoy a movie that everyone else enjoys. :P I for one don't like the Transformers stuff. In their latest movie, I literally sat still like a zombie, completely numb. However, everyone else in the theatre seemed to like this movie.

    It's a little sad that you feel you cant enjoy an all female cast. I hope you can give them a chance cus they can only get better from here

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  9. Bridesmaids was awful and I'm a woman. Sorry, you can't make a bad movie good just by making it about women. Ugh, this was stupid and I wish I could get my time and money back. Sadly, it wasted the talent of all the amazing actors in the movie.

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  10. Bridesmaids was so bad that it hurt to watch. About 45 minutes into the movie I was thinking "When is this moving going to get funny?"

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  11. My wife and I just finished it and we're both feeling like we lost the last 2 hours (or whatever...felt like 10 hours) of our lives. I had to search the web to see if I was alone. 90% positive on rotten tomatoes??? Huh? Thank you for making me feel normal! Awful, awful movie. Totally predictable unfunny junk. Bad, over the top acting. We just kept looking at each other in confusion. Puzzled at all the raves we've heard. Weird that people liked this. Oh well.

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  12. I am so glad to find this review. I recently purchased the DVD of Bridemaids. Everyone said it was good. It was awful. I had to make myself finish it. Maybe 12 year old boys would find it funny but as a 43 year old woman I found it disgusting.

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  13. This movie was a total waste of time. I can't believe it has gotten the good reviews that it has (90% positive on rotten tomatoes).

    I'm a 29 year old unmarried female and was hoping I would relate to some of the characters. Instead I found Wiig's character to be pathetically old fashioned (whaa-whaa my apparently only friend is getting married...how will I cope). It would have been far funnier and more realistic to play off Wiig becoming closer to her single friends now that her bestie is getting married, and contrasting that lifestyle to the lifestyles of the paired-off folks.

    The movie seemed far too traditional for 2011 in that there was an overriding theme of all the "good" characters wanting to find a partner and settle down, in spite of many of them being unhappy in their paired-off lives. Again, it could have been way funnier to introduce a new-age character in an open relationship, or a career-focused world traveler, or a cougar, or even a woman who is a total player... and contrast that with the traditional-ish folks who are paired off, unhappily paired off, or feeling pathetically single. She needn't be a main character...but a healthy contrast of the diversity of lifestyles in the US. Remember, only 50% of adults in the US are even married.

    Also irritating was the way characters handled the money issues in the movie. I would have way preferred some smart ass comments like "yeah, you want that $800 dress--I'll be wearing only the left sleeve" from some strong-willed female characters.

    Another missed opportunity was failing to introduce some quirky family members, or some quirky cultural customs. A wedding is a family occasion after all...

    The introductions of the bridesmaids at the engagement party in the first 20 mins of the movie was the only thing worth watching because it was a snapshot of a lot of different personalities. Missing was the development of them throughout the movie.

    urgh. enough complaining. I wasted about 2 hours. If you're a strong-willed, non-traditional woman, don't waste your time on Bridesmaids.

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  14. I watched this today since I was searching on demand and I remembered all the good reviews so I picked it and so after watching it I googled the words bridesmaids was a terrible movie and well here I am. I wondered if something is wrong with me for not finding it funny but man it was downright horrible!

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  15. eugh I just watched this film and needed to rant about it somewhere (why oh why did i buy the DVD???)I have to say that I totally agree, hangover two was waaaaaaay better, it was basically a remake of the first, but so what? Anyways, I'll admit that my sense humour does tend to lean towards immature, and therefore should find any film that includes a woman shitting in the street in a wedding dress hilarious. But I didn't. Another thing you should know about me is that if I hate a character in a film then I will really HATE that character, and Kristen Wigg's Annie took that hatred to a whole new level. I found here irritating and could not sympathise with here AT ALL. I rarely resort to violence, but I spent the whole film clenching my fists trying to restrain myself from slapping someone! (fortunately I did, as Kristen herself was not around, and I'm sure my friends would not have appreciated being on the receiving end of my violence!) Speaking of friends, evidently they found it hilarious. After the credits rolled they then proceeded to quiz me on what was wrong with me, they thought I must be upset/worried about something as this seemed to be the only logical explanation, to them, as to why I didn't find this film funny. I was a little worried I'd lost my sense of humour so I'm glad I found this blog! Anyway, RANT OVER, thanks for allowing me to vent. Just for reference, I'm a 21 year female. whheew, I feel much better now I've that off my chest, off to watch the original hangover to up my spirits!!

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  16. I'm late to this page as it just came across "my desk". I sooo agree guys. I am a single 36 year old woman and All the way through Bridesmaids I did not get it either. All the hype and you would have thought it was the second coming. I kinda knew Hangover 2 would just not be the same but close. In my opinion, the first time we saw The Hangover I was done! That is a once in a decade type movie. It just works one every level. The soundtrack is incredible. Zach and Brad were already good friends (great Brad Cooper interview on Stern circa Rene Zellwiger,sorry spelling). The chemistry with all the boys was clear. So many great scenes. My personal fav or 1 of them is when Phil and Alan are on the escalator, going down to the casino and all of casino scenes. I love physical comedians but Wiig is painful to watch. She is so goofy. Then Bridesmaids got all that Oscar buzz and then took some home. I'm just sayin' I don't get it. I know I am not alone, and where were other like minded people during their media blitz premovie? Usually somone in the media can call it.

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  17. Absolutely terrible movie. Husband and I (both early 30s, open-minded, etc.) couldn't believe that our friends (who loaned it to us) said it was funnier than the Hangover. Um, no.

    Terrible, lame jokes. The women are psycho - Wiig was absolutely unwatchable.

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