This movie, as expected, was hilarious. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting, even though I had been warned by various film blogs who'd seen advanced screenings that it was no "Hangover for girls." I have to admit though, I wish that that's what they would have done. While the movie was certainly full of laughs, they attempted to have a serious story line about how pathetic Kristin Wiig's character Annie was, and quite frankly, it was boring.

This is my main complaint about the film, and then we'll get into the good stuff. The addition of the serious sub plot concerning Annie's so-sad-single life is one that is exhausting and frankly, it's also a cheap one. It's too easy to comment on a single woman in her thirties who is struggling with wanting to settle down with "the one." I mean...yawwwn! Plus, this movie was LONG...125 minutes LONG. These scenes, while always interspersed with humor, took away from the pacing of the film. The energy gained from the scenes that were hysterical was quickly lost after we switch to sad Kristen Wiig. The one upside to these pacing issues is the fact that we got to see Wiig really act. We all know she can play a slew of funny, quirky characters from watching her on SNL, but she was able to really perform in a way that made us realize that she's even more talented that we would have guessed.

Another thing I really didn't like was the opening scene where Wiig and Jon Hamm are getting it on. I thought it was a pretty cheap way to get us immediately attentive as to what's going on in the story and otherwise not really necessary. Wiig and her friend Annie Mumolo wrote the film, and it was pretty obvious that this was their first feature. The plot was all over the place, but the humor...oh the humor, it was very well developed. Paul Feig (also known as Tim from Heavyweights ;) ) who also directed great titles like Knocked Up and a few episodes of Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks (also produced by Appatow), has great comedic timing and really understands what makes audiences laugh.

While the writing and directing definitely deserve credit, the casting was also exquisite. Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Melissa McCarthy were simply amazing. Wiig played a combination of all of her SNL characters I believe, while Maya Rudolph played a more straight laced character.  However, she played this part as only Maya Rudolph can. While her role was often times setting up jokes for Wiig, whom she had excellent chemistry with, she definitely had a large amount of subtle hilariousness. There's one scene in particular where she wasn't being her goofy self, but her quiet, realistic portrayal of a terribly mortifying situation was one of my favorite scenes ever.

If Bridesmaids had been The Hangover for Girls, Melissa McCarthy would have easily been the Zak Galifianakis of this movie. I mean, where the heck did she come from? Like the Hangover, out of nowhere comes this chubby brunette that, like Galifianakis, I had no idea existed but was instantly intrigued by and ready to start a facebook campaign demanding an SNL hosting gig in the near future. I mean, she was hilarious. There was no line she delivered that I didn't laugh out loud at. She fit right in with comedy veterans like Wiig and Rudolph. After I got home and imdb'd her I realized she didn't actually come from left field, and that she has in fact been around and doing some way legit stuff (such as Gilmore Girls Mike and Molly) for quite some time now but I've never personally seen her in anything. Cudos to casting director for finding that gem.

The cast in general was really great. All of the other bridesmaids did a really great job. And of course, the ever beautiful Jon Hamm was fantastic and played the douchebag you love to hate exquisitely. As for the role of Wiig's other love interest, Officer Rhodes, Chris O'Dowd did an adorable job but I couldn't help thinking during the movie that I wished it was John Krasinski up there instead, or Jason Sudekis. I didn't think he did anything spectacular with the role, but he was cute none-the-less.

I went and saw this film twice with two different people last weekend and I noticed that in both screenings, then men were laughing much more noticeably than the women. Perhaps it's because it was full of the gross, boyish humor you'd expect from anything attached to Judd Appatow's name. And let me tell you, it was some gross, boyish humor that was hysterical. If you don't like lots of poop and vomit jokes, this is not the movie for you. My enrollment in cotillion lessons that tried to teach me how to be a "proper lady" and shake me of my tom-boy ways as a pre-teen did nothing to break me of my disgusting sense of humor. You'll just never be able to convince me that a good poop joke isn't funny. Never. Sorry. Never mind, I'm not going to apologize for that. :)

This movie is definitely worth a watch. I have to say I initially didn't think I liked it as much as I was going to because of how off the pacing was, but I find myself ready to see it again just to laugh at all of the ridiculousness.  I'm not sure that it's worth the money to see it on the big screen since it wasn't by any means visually or audibly exceptional. I doubt I'll shell out another 7-10 bucks, but I'm quite certain I'll own a copy of the blu-ray as soon as it comes out!