This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Belles and Wistfuls
Plot Overview
Thirty-something Wisconsin girl Lillian
Donovan (Maya Rudolph) asks her lifelong friend Annie Walker
(Kristen Wiig) to be maid of honor at her upcoming wedding to Douglas
“Dougie” Price who these past eight months has been courting
her in neighboring Chicago. Helen Harris (Rose Byrne,) trophy wife
of the groom's boss Perry Harris III, is part of the bride's entourage
as well. Perry is always away traveling and Helen has yet to make any
female friends in their hoity toity circles, so she latches onto Lillian
for her new BFF. Being the
consummate planner & hostess she outbids trainwreck
Annie for the de facto top dog position of wedding coordinator. Their
mutual envy threatens to make a shambles of the wedding … if it
occurs at all in that stressful environment.
Ideology
The altar-bound couple is pretty much ignored in this slick flick while the love lives of the bridesmaids are compared and contrasted with each other. It somewhat follows the land, sea & air motif of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” An eagle is hard to track because of its unpredictable swoops, a serpent because of its slithering, and a ship as moved by winds & currents. “A man with a maid” is triply tricky.
The air transport here is a commercial
jet to Las Vegas for the bachelorette party. On it Lillian's friend
from work Becca (Ellie Kemper) reveals to her seatmate, Lillian's
cynical cousin Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey,) that she and her newlywed
husband—they'd been glowing with affection for each
other—Kevin had only ever been with each other. Rita replies,
“I can't believe you've never been with anybody else.”
No, it's “Just Kevin.” This calls to mind Sociologist
Paul Landis writing In Defense of Dating:
It is quite logical to believe that some kind of dating is necessary to the development of the judgment and pair interaction that is at the root of real objectivity in mate selection. Those who have dated more than one person have a chance to compare and to learn some of the usual behavior patterns of members of the opposite sex. They learn to distinguish between those whose personalities seem to promise a durable compatibility and those whose personalities obviously do not. Dating is an exploratory experience through which young people learn. It no doubt contributes to the ability to feel at ease with the opposite sex and the love play sanctioned in dating may well be an important factor in the development of a normal heterosexual orientation in the psychosexual area. … ¶In most circles today, therefore, it is considered desirable that young people “circulate” rather than “go steady” from the beginning, … that some variety of dating experience is favorable to ultimate mate choice. The girl who is considered desirable as a date by a number of fellows is presumed to be the one most likely to be sought after in marriage. (223–4)
Becca declares, “God is my God and also by boyfriend before I met Kevin,” and that she is “happy I waited to have sex.” Bravo! But the sex she has is a rather lackluster sort. “Kevin can only have sex in bed, in the dark, under the covers, only after we've showered … separately. And sometimes after we've finished cleaning ourselves, he's too tired.” Becca will say she's tired, too, but she's not. There is something to be said for comparison shopping. Rita has it, “That's why every girl needs those slutty college years to experiment, find out what she likes. You don't even know what you want.” Yes, but it should be limited to “the love play sanctioned in dating.”
Annie for all her bumbling
at life seems to be on the right track with sorting through fellows.
There was her boyfriend with the wormy face who left her when her
bakery went under. There was her most recent boyfriend who's history
now. There's her “fuck-buddy” Ted (Jon Hamm) on whose
list she's number three. There's “George Glass, a very hot,
nice guy.” She gets set up with Pete in the alternate film version
and with Dave in a deleted scene. Those two were dates from hell.
And she is starting something promising with Wisconsin Highway
Patrolman Nathan Rhoads (Chris O'Dowd) who pulled her over for
a minor infraction. The “adult sleep-overs” she has with
some of them are acknowledged mistakes. At the store where she works,
she guesses correctly the number of boyfriends a young customer
has: “exactly four.” We expect she is to follow
trailblazer Lillian by and by.
What
“Bridesmaids” illustrates is when it comes to
friendships, it takes time and shared experiences to develop
them. Of course having common interests will go a long way to make
that happen, but there is no shortcut to just being in each other's
lives through thick and thin. Annie and Lillian have been living five
minutes away from each other and visit regularly until an upcoming
wedding is about to part them. What it takes for a fulfilling marriage,
however, is shopping around first to see what floats your boat. Yes,
over time one can still develop a close friendship with one's mate,
but it won't be a sexually fulfilling marriage unless there is some
physical compatibility, which should be explored before the nuptials.
“The way of a serpent upon a rock” is illustrated by the raccoons playing with the peace offering cake Annie left on her cop boyfriend's stoop. He had to fight the coons for it. A little bit of competition provokes a guy's interest.
“The way of a ship in the midst of the
sea” corresponds to a chocolate fondue cascading down a
multilevel marble fountain into which Annie dunks a giant white
cookie (“Maybe it's better if I dip it in the chocolate”)
at the bridal shower. Political correctness would advise against
mentioning miscegenation, but Lillian's mother is Caucasian, her father
is Rastafarian, and their “baby girl” was black as a garden
variety pickaninny in her oft-displayed childhood photo.
But she turned into a light-skinned Latina with freckles when she
got older. (Annie's hair also got lighter over time.) Lillian has
a Roman nose and her father flared nostrils. They have different body
types and hair textures. A TV show in passing shows a black man dancing
for joy when he found out the baby wasn't his. The rasta was put on
the hook for raising the kid—with whom he then bonded,—and
he seems to be coming to the end of his obligation (“My dad
can't afford the wedding.”) One good reason to avoid sexual
promiscuity is so you know who the kid's father really is.
Production Values
“” (2011) was directed by Paul Feig. It was written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. It stars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne. Wiig and Rudolph make a funny duo. The cast was excellent. Byrne brilliantly played a rich girl slumming it to gain a new friend. Wiig played the central character for all she was worth. She co-wrote the script as well. Melissa McCarthy played the rich groom's sister used to having her own way.
MPA rated it R for some strong sexuality, and language throughout. It employed the f-word, a couple g.d.'s, and the “bad vagina word.” The children had to cough up a quarter into the swear jar when they imitated the adults in these expressions. There's a 131-minute unrated version that contains more material in the same vein. I found it in the bonus section of my DVD.
The cinematography is first rate. The scenery and fashions come across like a professional advert. The soundtrack is very positive. The director brought out the best in a well-written script. This certainly qualifies as a chick-flick, but I'm a guy who maintained his interest through the whole thing and then the bonus material. Runtime is 2 hours 5 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one had its share of illicit sex,
but the results were shown or acknowledged as less than ideal. One
good Christian couple waited until they were wed to have sex and were
glad they did, but they had their own problem. They were too prudish
in the dating stage to explore physical compatibility even where expected.
They just tickled each other and rubbed noses. Annie the lead went
through a number of men and gained valuable insights into the opposite
sex, although she allowed them to take advantage of her anyway. They
seemed to sense her savoir faire, so she was the one they came on to at the
engagement party. The minister from Illinois held a Bible in his hand but
didn't quote from it in the portion of the wedding shown.
For all its serious heads up, it was a rousing comedy in its own right. I thought it was hilarious, better than average. It was a blast! See it if you can take it.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation was from the Authorized King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Landis, Paul H. Making the Most of Marriage. New York: Meredith Publishing, 1965. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org