Movie Review: "Bridesmaids"

"It's supposed to be like the female version of 'The Hangover.' "

Why did people ever say this? It definitely is not.

The movie is about Annie (Kristen Wiig), whose best friend Lilly (Maya Rudolph) is getting married and has asked Annie to be her maid of honor. Annie's happy for her friend, but seeing her friend so happy only further sharpens the contrast of Annie's own unhappiness. (She's lost her business, been dumped, is sleeping with an asshole who treats her like shit, has to live with two terrible roommates, works at a job she hates and has to deal with her half-crazy mom.)

The other women in the bridal party are Lilly's cousin Rita (the blonde chick from Reno 911), her Disney-obsessed coworker Becca (played by the chick who plays Erin on The Office), Lilly's future sister-in-law Megan (played by scene-stealer Melissa McCarthy, real-life cousin of Jenny McCarthy) and Lilly's fiance's boss's wife... got that?... Helen (played by Rose Byrne.)

The comedy comes in when Helen tries to take over maid of honor duties to outshine Annie, and Annie retaliates. And if you're into bathroom humor, oh boy, do you get the mother of all uncontrollable poop/puke scenes.

So, yeah, I guess the fact that the plot surrounds a wedding and there's some raunch and nastiness makes it Hangover-ish, but the core difference is that this movie was written by women and shows how a woman's mind works. (Guys. Pay attention.)

Women are always a little bit sad. There. I said it.

There are obvious things, like not fulfilling their career dreams or being dumped or feeling trapped in a bad relationship because they don't think they can do any better.

But there are also other things, like not feeling like you have true friends or not feeling like you can trust even the good guys after being treated so shittily by the bad ones.

I think that's as far as a man will follow, but watch out, fellas, there's another layer:

Desperately missing the naivety and hopefulness of your childhood.

Heartbreak of letting go of a bit of your individual identity to have a future with someone.

Guilt at replacing things that used to be the most important with things that are now important.

"Bridesmaids," under the hilarity and nonsense, gives us all of that. Men might not see past the poop and the puke and the obvious, but women will feel all the layers. So the tears might not be 100% from laughter.