Saturday Night Live have generated many female stars who have transitioned successfully from television to film and you have to add Kristen Wiig to that list as her film “Bridesmaids” is hilarious, fun and a fantastic comedy! Â Definitely recommended!
© 2011 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Bridesmaids: Unrated
DURATION: (Theatrical Edition) 2 hrs., 5 minutes, (Unrated Edition) 2 hrs, 11 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English, Spanish and Francais Dolby Digital 5.1, English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0, Subtitles: English SDH, Francais, Espanol
COMPANY: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
RATED: R (Some Strong Sexuality and Language Throughout)/NOT RATED (This Unrated Version Contains Material Different from the Original R Rated Version)
RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2011
Directed by Paul Feig
Written by Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumulo
Produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
Co-Produced by: Annie Mumulo, Kristen Wiig
Executive Producer: Paul Feig
Associate Producer: Lisa Yadavaia
Music by Michael Andrews
Cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman
Edited by William Kerr
Production Design by Jefferson Sage
Art Direction by Keith P. Cunningham
Set Decoration by Douglas A. Mowat
Costume Design by Leesa Evans
Starring:
Kristen Wiig as Annie
Maya Rudolph as Lillian
Rose Byrne as Helen
Chris O’Dowd as Officer Nathan Rhodes
Wendi McLendon-Covey as Rita
Ellie Kemper as Becca
Jessica St. Clair as Whitney
Melissa McCarthy as Megan
Jill Clayburgh as Annie’s Mom
Michael Hitchcock as Don Cholodecki
Terry Crews as Boot Camp Instructor
“Gut-bustingly funny!â€(Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly) From the producer of Superbad, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin comes the breakout comedy critics are calling “brazenly hysterical!†(Alynda Wheat, People). Thirty-something Annie (Kristen Wiig) has hit a rough patch but finds her life turned completely upside down when she takes on the Maid of Honor role in her best friend Lillian’s (Maya Rudolph) wedding. In way over her head but determined to succeed, Annie leads a hilarious hodgepodge of bridesmaids (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) on a wild ride down the road to the big event.
Saturday Night Live have generated many female stars who have transitioned successfully from television to film and you have to add Kristen Wiig to that list as her film “Bridesmaids” is hilarious, fun and a fantastic comedy! Â Definitely recommended!Â
It’s time for another Apatow produced comedy but this time, it’s not about the guys but all about the ladies in “Bridesmaids”, a film written by Saturday Night Live star/comedienne Kristen Wiig and actress Annie Mumolo and directed by Paul Feig (“The Office”, “Nurse Jackie”, “Weeds”).
The comedy was released in May 2011 by Universal Pictures and was met with critical acclaim and surpassing “Knocked Up” as the top-grossing Judd Apatow film to date (the film was budgeted at $32.5 million and earned over $281 million in the box office) and now, the Blu-ray and DVD release which contain the theatrical and unrated edition is set for a Sept. 20th release.
“Bridesmaids” is a film that revolves around Annie (played by Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”, “MacGruber”, “Extract”), a single woman in her mid-30’s who lost her bakery due to an economy, lost her boyfriend right after her business closed down and lost all of her savings.
She now works at a jewelry store, a job which her mother (played by Jill Clayburgh, “Dirty Sexy Money”, “Leap of Faith”, “Ally McBeal”) had gotten her.
Annie is not so happy with life at the moment as she has become a recluse and bitter about life and love. She is trying to live with what she makes from the jewelery store job, she has a sexual relationship with a self-absorbed man named Ted (played by Jon Hamm) who has no plans to get serious with her and she lives in an apartment with a British man and his intrusive sister who is freeloading at her home and continually touches Annie’s things.
And to top it all off, her childhood friend Lillian (played by Maya Rudolph, “Saturday Night Live”, “Kath & Kim”, “50 First Dates”) has found happiness in her life and is engaged.
With Lillian having an engagement party, Annie sees a side of life that Lillian has lived, a life that she knows nothing about and gets quite jealous.
Annie meets Lillian’s best friend Helen (played by Rose Byrne, “X-Men: First class”, “Sunshine”, “Damages”), a beautiful and wealthy woman who wants to decide everything in relation to Lillian’s wedding; Lillian’s future sister-in-law, the blunt and straightforward Megan (played by Melissa McCarthy, “Mike & Molly”, “Samantha Who?”, “Gilmore Girls”); the happily married Becca (played by Ellie Kemper, “The Office”) who has only dated and been with one man; and the wealthy but disenchanted wife/mother Rita (played by Wendi McLendon-Covey, “Reno 911!”, “Rules of Engagement”).
For Annie, she is unaware that her true childhood best friend Lillian has a new best friend that she hangs out with and suddenly Annie begins to feel hatred/rivalry towards Helen. The rivalry becomes heated as both Annie and Helen want to be involved in the planning of Annie’s wedding.
On the day of the wedding gown fitting, Annie takes the women to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant before the fitting but unfortunately, all the women excluding Helen (who refused to eat the food) develop food poisoning and end up barfing or having diarrhea during their fitting for the wedding gown and bridesmaids dresses.
Needless to say, it is the first strike against Annie.
Depressed about how things are going thus far with the planning of Lillian’s wedding and her personal life, Annie develops a close friendship with a police officer Nathan Rhodes (played by Chris O’Dowd, “Faq About Time Travel”, “The IT Crowd”, “Pirate Radio”) who had pulled her over and next thing you know, Nathan falls for her and treats her well. But because Annie is so disenchanted with life and love, she ends up sabotaging anything good between her and Nathan.
And to make things worse, her jealousy towards Helen may end up ruining plans for Lillian’s birthday and end up costing her the only friend she really has.
Will Annie ever rise from her depression to recognize the people in her life that truly care for her or will she end up losing them all?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Bridesmaids: Unrated” is presented in 2:40:1 anamorphic widescreen. Picture quality for the DVD is very good as a lot of the scenes are shot outdoors BUT if you are wanting the best quality version of this film, the Blu-ray version is the way to go, because this film is quite vibrant and looks much better in High Definition.
The Audio is presented in English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0.  On DVD, the audio is clear coming through the front and center channels, good use of ambiance from the crowd and music coming from the surround channels but if you want better audio quality, once again, you will want to go for the Blu-ray version which should have a much more immersive soundtrack ala lossless.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Bridesmaids: Unrated” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Featuring an enjoyable, upbeat and hilarious audio commentary (for the unrated edition) with director Paul Feig, co-writer Annie Mumolo and cast members Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McClendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper.
- Gag Reel – (3:47) Outtakes from “Bridesmaids”.
- Line-O-Rama – (12:10) Featuring the multiple improvised scenes from ‘Bridesmaids”.
- Deleted Scenes– (7:52) Featuring three deleted scenes: Blind Date with Dave, Bonjour and Last chance.
- Additional Extended & Alternate Scenes – (8:40) Featuring five extended and alternate scenes: Meet Gil & Brynn, Judy on Barb, Ham Slacks, Becca Pukes Again, Split the Rent: Breasts
- Cholodecki’s Commercial – (1:05) Check out what’s new with Cholodecki’s when you watch the never-beforeseen “commercial†from Annie’s jewelry employer!
EXTRAS:
“Bridesmaids: Unrated” comes with a slipcover case.
Finally, we get to see Kristen Wiig show us her true talent as a writer and as an actress in “Bridesmaids”.
Yes, she has appeared in “MacGruber” and “Extract” and of course, we see much more of her comedienne talents on “Saturday Night Live”, but “Bridesmaids” is the film that allowed her to show her creative side as a writer but also as the lead actress.
And what I loved about the movie is that while it does contain the hilarious, gut-busting gross out scenes that we are typically used to seeing on a Judd Apatow film, what “Bridesmaids” does much better than other Apatow films is that it manages to keep things real, in the fact that the situation Annie is in, happens to many people during this survival era during this economy.
Depression from losing a business, depression from not making much income, depression of working a job that you don’t enjoy, depression of things not working right in your life and things tend to compound itself one after the other with Annie that she is unable to deal with it. She becomes reclusive, doesn’t have many friends and the one true friend that she does have, she finds out that she has this other life with friends and also has a best friend, while Annie had always thought that she was Lilian’s (Maya Rudolph) “best friend”.
Fortunately, “Bridesmaids” is a comedy thus the film doesn’t explore the psyche, dark depression that Annie is in but instead showcases her ability to sabotage things in her life. Her jealousy towards Helen (Rose Byrne) ignites this inner jealousy of trying to one-up her, but she is unable to and it just causes problems.
Maya Rudolph’s role as Lillian is possibly her best role to date. While she does partake in some of the hilarious moments in the film, it’s not forceful like other Apatow films where everyone has to be hilarious (or borderline-stupid). She cares about her friend and trying to keep things balanced between her childhood friend Annie and her best friend Helen.
And Rose Byrne does a fantastic job in playing the somewhat devious best friend that clamors for attention and always trying to remain positive despite not having any close relationships with anyone else around her but Lillian. Similar to Rita, her stepkids are just as mean to her. But Byrne looks absolutely ravishing in this role and also partakes in some of the fun moments of the film.
But then you have the other female characters and once again, I’m sure people can relate to these type of women…Becca (Ellie Kemper) as the woman who has been with only one man and has never experienced other men, so she never really had the chance to explore and the other friend Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is a woman who may have married wealthy, but she is bitter about how life has changed after marriage and having children. Having a husband who doesn’t look at her the same when she was younger and having children who are young but yet are quite profane towards her. So, Rita acts as the negative person towards Becca of how life will not always be happy and cheerful because of marriage.
And then of course, you have the odd-ball Megan. Melissa McCarthy’s character is so off-the-wall, you just don’t know what is going to come out of her mouth. Surprising, hilarious and once again, the Apatow style of filmmaking of where improvisation really brings out the craziness of the character. And just as off the wall are Annie’s British roommates, you just don’t know what will come out of their mouths as well, especially the visual of the female roommate (played by Rebel Wilson).
And the film also has the one of the final appearances of the late Jill Clayburgh and also features the musical reunion of Wilson Phillips.
The DVD contains both the regular theatrical edition and the director’s cut. The main difference from what I have found is a scene in which Annie’s British roommates are bathing with each other and when Annie goes on a blind date with a single father. There is nothing extra raunchy about the unrated version, but it was good choice for Paul Feig to eliminate those scenes from the theatrical edition.
There are a good number of special features included and but if you have a Blu-ray player, I would definitely choose the Blu-ray edition over the DVD edition because their are many outdoor, colorful scenes and I have no doubt in my mind that those scenes would look much more vibrant in HD.
Overall, “Bridesmaids” is a fantastic comedy. Guys who are used to Apatow films can easily get into this film and see how an-all female cast can be equally funny (and gross) but I have to admit, of the many Apatow films I have seen so far, “Bridesmaids” is well-written and well-cast and strikes a fine balance between the crazy and hilarious moments of an Apatow film but yet managing to incorporate a screenplay that is fun, entertaining and worth watching.
“Bridesmaids: Unrated” is definitely recommended!
