Always the Bridesmaid

Hello Everyone :-)

I did something uncharacteristic the other day. I went to the pictures with other people. I’ve been going to my local Odeon alone a lot recently because for me the cinema isn’t something you need to share with others; in fact if you have someone letting you know their every thought as the film progresses, it can be quite annoying. But it seemed appropriate that I go with a group of my girly mates to see ‘Bridesmaids’.

‘Bridesmaids’ centres on Annie (Kristen Wiig) whose best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married. Annie’s life slowly starts to unravel as she tries to plan the best send off for her best friend.

Undoubtedly the glue that binds is Wiig who also co-wrote the script. Annie could have been so annoying, she’s unaware of how her actions affect others, she’s masochistic in relationships and constantly makes decisions that are to her own detriment but in the hands of Wiig she becomes someone you want to be friends with.
The whole cast is brilliant actually. Rose Byrne who plays Helen is amazing; she really nails the passive aggressive bitch thing. Rudolph is lovely as Lillian who lets her wedding run away with her and her friendship with Annie comes across as completely genuine. The other Bridesmaids, newly wed Becca and stressed housewife Rita, make the most of their small but funny roles but Melissa McCarthy has great comic timing as Megan in a role that I was expecting to be Alan from ‘The Hangover’ with XX chromosomes but turned out to be the most sensible character in the whole film.

There is a romantic subplot but, unlike some rom-coms, it plays second fiddle to the comedy and rightly so. Jon Hamm is the complete opposite of his ‘Mad men’ persona in this. Ted is slimy and stupid but gorgeous and he has Annie at his beck and call.
Chris ‘Roy from the IT Crowd’ O’Dowd is really good as Officer Rhodes. His relationship with Annie is sweet and believable and I thought while it added a different dimension to Annie’s character, it also contributed to the laughs.

There are so many bits that are laugh out loud funny but some of it does drag in places. The dress shop scene starts well but could do with losing a few minutes (there’s only so much of someone defecating into a sink I can handle).

Having said that the comedy in the film covers such a wide spectrum it’s lovely to see. It spans from the weird of Annie’s room mates (Matt Lucas is brilliant, Rebel Wilson is also good but has an accent that strays from English to Australian) to the daft things Annie and Lillian do together to the crudeness of full on toilet humour. It’s not too clever but it’s not constant knob gags either and it never descends into anything mean or exploitative so there really is something for everyone.

There is so much to like about this movie. It’s so nice to see a film (let alone a comedy) with women in the leading roles and none of them are one dimensional, eyecandy airheads. Wiig has proved her comedy prowess in previous small roles (Adventureland, Paul and Knocked up amongst others) but hopefully this will make her the ‘go to’ for female led comedy because cinema is crying out for one.

So let’s have today’s…

Reasons to be Cheerful
1. Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are dating! Super couple or what?!?! He's one of my favourite actors at the minute and she is in two of my top 10 favourite films of all time. I love it!

2. Glastonbury coverage took up most of my weekend. I sat in the living room at 7 o’clock on Friday with a cup of tea and didn’t move till midnight. U2 were good, Bono annoyed me because he kept singing bits of other people’s songs which I could potentially deal with but he chose to sing the Beatles and as far as I’m concerned you just don’t touch the Beatles. My Friday highlight was (unsurprisingly) Morrissey. He was great.
I think Saturday was the best day. The Gaslight Anthem, Tinie Tempah, Friendly Fires, Jessie J, Aloe Blacc were all great. Coldplay really surprised me, I can take or leave them really (except ‘Shiver’ that song is one of my favourites) but they excelled themselves on Saturday, I really enjoyed them. The stars of the day though had to be Elbow. Guy Garvey is such a lovely front man, in fact the whole band have a massive affection for their audience, I think that’s why they’ve had such a dedicated, enduring fanbase over past 20 years.
Sunday kind of fell a bit flat for me, Pendulum and QOTSA were obviously awesome but the discovery of Raghu Dixit was a proper hidden gem, their music is so dreamy.
All in all and excellent weekend of telly. My highlight was Ed Sheeran who I’m developing an unhealthy obsession for (I’ve watched his BBC Introducing set 8 times already and pre-ordered his album). He’s a cute as a button, hugely talented and has a voice as clear as a bell. Lovely.

3. It’s my 22^nd birthday on Thursday :-) I’m going for food and cinema with my two best friends. I will of course let you know what I watched (and more importantly if it as any good) later this week.

Enough for today.

Goodbye till next time :-)
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