Psychoanalysis and Bachelorettes

“Bridesmaids” Review

By Bill Caton

                Do I really dislike all “buddy” movies about girls? Do I have some problem with comedies in which girls “behave badly”? I certainly hope not. Unlike Dr. Freud I am unable to psychoanalyze myself, so I can never be sure of my motivation. But I really believe that I am capable of watching a movie and making a rational decision concerning its badness.
                And so, we come to this: “Bridesmaids” is not good. It simply does not work. The jokes are dull and strained and the actors seem caught in some jittery dream from which they wake unfulfilled and uneasy. After watching this and “The Hangover II” I have come to realize how difficult and special is a good comedy.

                “Bridesmaids” is co-written and starred in by Kristen Wiig (Annie the best friend of the bride). It has elements of an excellent comedy: jealousy among friends old and new (Helen, Rose Byrne, is a rival to Annie’s long-time friendship with the bride, Lillian, Maya Rudolph), some dead-on observations (a house full of adolescent boys is “full of semen”), and some interesting physical comedy (Lillian, wearing an expensive wedding gown, sinks to the street as if in despair, but in fact suffers from uncontrollable diarrhea). Trust me, the diarrhea/fitting scene, while it does not work well overall, makes for a memorable image as the bride falls short of the bathroom that is just across the street.

                The story is this: Lillian is going to get married, her life-long best friend Annie is down on her luck and tries to buck up to do the right thing as the maid of honor. Enter the wealthy new friend Helen and you have a (silly) rivalry for friendship that sets the entire comedy in motion from an endless speech scene at the engagement party to a sabotaged trip to Vegas. Annie even finds a love interest along the way. The story includes three other friends as well, but they hardly seem worth mentioning. Except perhaps Megan (Melissa McCarthy) who is large, bizarre and yet somehow an excellent judge of character. There are also Annie’s British roommates who could pass for tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.

                “Bridesmaids” is frustrating because it could have been good. The concept is excellent and the elements are there. They just seem cobbled together incomplete and the entire effort appears on screen as a disjointed idea for a film. This movie appears to have never left the stage where writers riff drunkenly on a subject, laughing at truths uncovered extemporaneously while the bar crowd hums in the background.

                Ann and I saw this movie with Beth and Joe O’Donnell (publisher of “b Metro”). Beth did not like the move because she found it too bawdy.  I did not like it because it was ill conceived and poorly executed. In fact, remembering Dr. Freud, I am convinced that anyone who really liked this movie should have their head examined.

Gilligan in Bangkok

The Hangover II

By Bill Caton

                I did not think “The Hangover II” was good. In fact, I thought it was bad. There are several reasons – I found it too raunchy and gratuitously offensive (check out the remake of the iconic photograph of the Vietnamese general executing the Viet Cong), and, while it purports to be a sequel to the original, it really is not. Instead, it is a flawed remake of an excellent movie.

                This is the second remake I have seen in recent months, “Arthur” being the first. I did not like the remake of “Arthur” either, but I could not tell if I disliked it because it was bad or because I could not give it a fair shake considering the original holds a special place for me. That question did not plague me with “The Hangover II.”

                Nowhere in this remake where we find the boys staggering through the streets of Bangkok is anything as funny as Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) leaping nude from a car trunk to attack the hangover victims with a tire iron. Or, for that matter watching Alan (Zach Galifianakis) stagger toward the child who tazed him in the face. By the way, I thought the tire iron scene perfectly captured the surprise and misery of a bad hangover.

                The setting in “The Hangover II” is meaner and dirtier and the characters appear to remain tired from their adventure in Las Vegas. The actors seem hung over as they stagger through this remake. Alan is more of a petulant child, much less sympathetic and interesting, and Stu’s (Ed Helms) trist with a shemale prostitute holds none of the sweetness of his encounter with a prostitute in the first movie that seemed to awaken him to the fact he was responsible for the misery of his marriage.

                I suppose if you saw “The Hangover” you will be unable to fight the urge to see this remake. And I must say that I laughed out loud in spots during “II.” But when you get home you will probably have to watch the original again just to cleanse your mind.

                As I look back on “The Hangover II” I am reminded of a novelty song I once heard where some smartass sang the lyrics to “Gilligan’s Island” to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven.” The idea of the song sounded funny to me but immediately after I heard it I wished had not listened. That three hour tour remains stuck in my head years later. Of course, someone posted a video of this abomination on Youtube if you want to subject yourself to it Gilligan in hell.