Bridesmaids wins

Much has been written about Bridesmaids and its potential to turn the tide for women in Hollywood. Indeed, it made at least $24 million in the first weekend, and appears to continually be luring both the ladies and the men into theaters this week. I saw it yesterday, fittingly, with one of my best and oldest friends (let’s just say, I remember Jen when she was galloping through the playground pretending to be a unicorn). We both laughed our asses off and wished it would never end. Here’s a little bit of why:

The dialogue between the besties was powerfully authentic. I know that not all women talk to one another like this, but my friends and I have a rapport very similar to that which takes place between Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph’s characters–supportive, sometimes gross, laced with humor. Listening to them riff produced one of those moments where I realized how totally unrelatable most movie dialogue is, but I’ve grown so used to it that I didn’t realize that it was even possible to resonate on this level with characters in a Hollywood flick. Refreshing.

Kristen Wiig struck me as very Lucille Ball-like in this film–creating all this powerful humor, both physical and non-physical, that I just couldn’t imagine being written into a script so much as conjured up in the moment, full of inspiration. One of my favorite moments took place when she tried to get out of a ticket by pretending to pull a “flirty girl” act. It was layers of social commentary on top of one another without a whole lot of fanfare.

Melissa McCarthy, as has been written about elsewhere, was fucking awesome. As she busted out of every gender stereotype possible, or fulfilled them to freakish, reclaimed proportions, she definitely stole the show. I’ve been loving this lady since my Gilmore Girl days, so it was a blast to see her in a more comedic, no holds barred role like this.

Wilson Phillips, “Hold On,” is, indeed, my karaoke song. (Along with Lil’ Mama’s “Lip Gloss.”) “Hold On” is featured prominently in the film. As it should be.

If you haven’t seen it already, do it. If you’ve already seen it, tell other people to. Let’s keep the streak alive.