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Friday, December 17th, 2010
Movies
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Could Paul Feig's Bridesmaids Be "The First Great Female Comedy"?

by | December 17th, 2010

The term "female comedy" is pretty gross; it assumes that all other comedy is "male comedy." But you know what? Most comedy is! Males are the leads in pretty much every comedy that isn't a romcom, which sucks. But the early buzz for Bridesmaids, the upcoming movie written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, is excellent. The movie is about "two feuding bridesmaids played by Rose Byrne and Kristen Wiig. Also starring Maya Rudolph as the bride, and a supporting cast that consists of Jon Hamm, Matt Lucas, Ellie Kemper, Dianne Wiest and others."

It's really tough to argue with the people behind this movie. Obviously, Kristen Wiig is amazing, and having Paul Feig and Judd Apatow reunite after creating the cult favorite Freaks and Geeks is cause for excitement. And that cast! It's exciting to see favorites such as Hamm and Wigg join up with up and comers like the awesome Ellie Kemper, from The Office.

Currently, a 1 hour, 55 minute cut is being shown to test audiences, and the word from those screenings is almost universally positive. Here's what one person said about it: “I was a bit nervous because you can see little quirks from several of her SNL characters, but Kristen completely caries this film. Kills it. The theme of the movie, while a tad 'on-the-nose' when said aloud, is great. Shares a little emotional kinship with Freaks and Geeks.”

The film doesn't hit theaters until May 11th of next year, but if they're able to improve it even more in that time, we could finally have an answer to Apatow's previously dude-centric movies.

Tags:

annie mumolo, bridesmaids, judd apatow, kristen wiig, movies, paul feig

  • JoshUng

    Just wondering, would you consider Tina Fey's "Baby Mama" a "female comeday?" I thought that movie was pretty good. I don't know if it was "great" but funnier than the average comedy IMO.

    • http://splitsider.com Adam Frucci

      Yeah, I would. I wasn't trying to insinuate that there has never been a "female comedy," but that's the language used by one of the people who saw it.

      • JoshUng

        Oh, ok. I did like the movie, but its entirely possible that my love of all things Tina Fey could have blinded me into liking a bad film.

        I do look forward to the film considering who's in it, I just have to separate me thoughts on Kristin Wiig. Sometimes I think I'm a little too down on her because in my head she seems to be in all the SNL skits I hate because its pretty much the same exact joke (like Penelope).

  • http://www.twitter.com/becca_oneal Rebecca O'Neal

    The people involved are enough to inspire some tentative excitement… We'll see. And yea – I love Baby Mama.

    We need more funny lady-movies! I mean, I quoted Superstar nonstop as a kid, but I just watched it again earlier this year and it didn't exactly hold up. Still pretty funny, but it may have been my nostalgia doing the laughing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kimberly-Schwartz/13005687 Kimberly Schwartz

    Went to a test screening last night. It is simply fantastic. The comedy throughout is consistent and never fizzles in favor of emotional moments, hell even the emotional moments are funny. It's so funny and original that I can't even compare it to other films. I cannot think of another film that it is like. They're comparing it to Bride Wars, but it's nothing like that, that's just the only film in recent memory that involved a female lead cast and weddings so they went straight to that. It's freaking hilarious. You can tell they have a wealth of riches to choose from and I can't wait to see what makes the final cut. It's finally filling a much needed niche and I can only hope for more movies like this in the future to the point where it's not unexpected that a female driven comedy would be funny, nevermind hilarious.

  • j bacher

    I hate to even have to point this out, but Bridesmaids at least was written by women, whereas it appears Baby Mama was not. I'd love if from the top down (producer, director, and writer) could be entirely women… one day!

    • JoshUng

      I'll be damned. I just kind of assumed Tina Fey wrote that movie.

  • Matilda Wormwood

    I'm pretty excited there's actually something for us ladies! Hopefully I'll be able to sneak away from my kitchen and put on some shoes to go see this movie. The cast is still generic pretty (mostly) white skinny girls, but I suppose they have to break one barrier at a time.

  • Just A Spectator

    I would imagine that they need to promote this as a comedy guys will want to see as well.
    Something not too chick-flicky, rom-commy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Melissa-Ragsly/100001684347741 Melissa Ragsly

    I'm really excited Rose Byrne is in this. SHe was the highpoint of Get Him to the Greek, really showed her comedy chops and she gets no credit!

  • http://twitter.com/shoogyboomz shoogyboom

    I agree with many of the comments above and can't wait to see this movie. P.S. Jon Hamm was Ellie Kemper's high school drama teacher!!

  • MexicanMidget

    I thought Mean Girls would be the primary contender for THE female comedy. After all, Tina Fey both wrote and directed it.

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