Bridesmaids

Occasionally I see films without any foreknowledge of what they are about or what to expect. This was one of them. I noticed from the poster that Aussie actress Rose Byrne features and so, always happy to support films with Aussie connections, I went along to a screening. As it happens there is another Aussie connection with comedienne Rebel Wilson featuring in a side gag with no apparent relevance to the main plot.

Annie (Kristen Wiig) is invited to be Matron of Honour by her best friend Lilian (Maya Rudolph) and finds herself at odds with an odd collection of bridesmaids; in particular Helen (Byrne) with whom she enters an immediate and increasingly frenetic rivalry. What follows is two hours of gross and rather obvious comedy.

The film opens with the sort of sex scene that a pubescent teenage male would consider orgasmic involving Wiig and pay television's hunk de jour John Hamm whose name wisely does not appear in the credits despite his multiple appearances in the film. Hamm in real life is seen as having a great deal of sex appeal but to my mind he looks far better wearing a business suit than his birthday suit as this film confirms.

Having watched it I assumed from the grossness of the film that it must have been written by men and was surprised to learn from the end credits that the writers were two women including Wiig herself. I have to concede that I laughed quite a few times but be warned, this film is the antithesis of sophisticated comedy.