Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Breaking Bride

David Denby, in his New Yorker review of Bridesmaids, calls Kristen Wiig one of the most gifted clowns on television since Carol Burnett.  Thus his disappointment that her movie isn't better. (It's reminiscent of Pauline Kael, who wrote about how much she loved Carol Burnett, but never liked any of the movies she was in.)

He is right that the plot lurches, often seeming stalled between set pieces. Very much like a number of Farrelly Brothers films.  Which may explain why the director, Paul Feig, and producer, Judd Apatow, insisted there be a gross-out scene where the cast gets food poisoning.  Denby refers to it as one of the "awkwardly unfunny episodes that should have been dropped."

Denby may not like it, but I'm pretty sure this is the money scene.  Even with a mostly female audience, this is what people are talking about.  The film is a hit, and I'd say due in no small part to the gross stuff.

Denby asks rhetorically "Is there really that big an audience for vomit?" Actually, yes, if properly done.

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