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| Paul Feig's 'Bridesmaids', One more Take - A Female Writer's Reaction |
Girls say the F word too. And now the whole world knows it thanks to Bridesmaids, directed by Paul Feig and created by Judd Apatow, a funny but far from ideal take on the raunchy adult comedy from the viewpoint from the women. I needed to take a moment to talk about my thoughts on the film following Jeremy's review from earlier in the week. I do prefer to affirm that I did appreciate Bridesmaids; it was, following all, the initial summer film I had the possibility to catch (sorry Thor) and I laughed a lot, but as a screenwriting student fresh off the graduation boat I've to say I was a little disappointed.
The evening just before I saw the film, star and co-writer Kristen Wiig appeared on The Every day Show (watch right here). She talked about that right after her role in Judd Appatow's Knocked Up the director asked her point-blank if she had any concepts for a movie. Wiig then rushed off with her co-writer Annie Mumolo (who tends to make an appearance as a nervous airplane passenger -- you may have seen that within the trailers) and also the pair purchased a "how-to-write-a-screenplay-book." No less than, that is how Wiig tells the story.
On one particular hand it is great that, provided the chance, a woman or two can plop down on the couch and kind out a string of funny, genuine, and honest female dialogue; in contrast to the love-interests in prior films with the genre, I'm taking a look at you Wedding Crashers, Old School, as well as the Hangover, the characters in Bridesmaids mumble and swear and talk about guys and sex like Genuine females. It's refreshing to determine and frankly, it really is about damn time.
Sad to say, as funny as these women are their script is lacking in the structure and consistency required to generate Bridesmaids 1 to recall. With out spoiling too much, the film falls into the common pattern of receiving towards the end of the second act and realizing it has to "resolve the premise" and all of a sudden the screen is filled with severe plot rather than humor. Now, I'm a writer so additional plot is good. It's crucial. It's crucial. But why can't characters ponder their bad behavior in scenes that still make us crack a smile? Life is funny soon after all, even the messy components. (See the prime example of this in Ron Howard's Parenthood, when Steve Martin literally calls life messy ahead of generating the film's best joke.)
My other challenge came with Bridesmaid's finale. Again, though staying away from the specifics, I'll say that the script does not clarify the reason why lead girl and lead guy get collectively in the long run (sorry but c'mon you knew that was coming). The story jumps from one scene in which they are still mad at one another for the last scene within the film when they're reuniting. Some thing within the middle is missing. I do not believe the couple falling in enjoy was written as an afterthought by any implies, so I guess that the slip-up just reveals how fresh to screenwriting these comediennes are.
Possibly I should not be such a Scrooge but I think strong writing is very important to superior movie-making and honestly, when we purchase our tickets we deserve to find out a total result. I'm not wanting to discourage everyone from watching Bridesmaids, mainly because it's hilarious at times. Just after this film there is no denying that females are as foul-mouthed, attractive, disgusting, and funny as males. So if anything, it is a step in the correct direction. Here's to hoping next time across the women behind the words are a little braver, a little clearer, and preserve the humor going in each scene irrespective of what.
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