Movie of the Week: Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig is underrated. She has been the most consistently funny woman in Hollywood (and New York, I suppose) for the past 10 years and yet Cameron Diaz probably gets paid double what Wiig makes. I can't think of a single instance when I Wiig on a screen and I didn't giggle at least a little. Simply put, when she tries to make me laugh she succeeds. It should be no surprise, then, that when she writes and stars in a movie that I'm going to have high expectations for it. Similar to a Ricky Gervais/Stephan Merchant production, watching Ric Flair in the ring or an episode of Psych, I expect greatness from Wiig. Also similar to the holy triumvirate I listed: she delivers.

Her new movie, Bridesmaids, is the story of Annie, a failed cake shop owner that is now trudging through her life working as a jewelry store clerk. She lives with an annoying brother and sister roommate combo and her only relationship is with a bastard womanizer played hilariously by Jon Hamm.

Quick aside on Jon Hamm: one, Mad Men sucks. Deal with it, hipsters. Two, he is VERY good in every comedic role I've seen him in. Admittedly, that's just this movie and 30 Rock, but the bottom line is if Mr. Hamm wants to make career decisions based entirely on what I would enjoy, he should give up the crap-fest that is Mad men and stick to comedy.

As always happens in SNL star movies, Annie's life takes a wild turn when she finds out that her best friend, Maya, is getting married. Unfortunately, Maya's new group of friends are not the sort of ladies that Annie is used to being around and Annie begins to feel a little left out. Not surprisingly, this leads to numerous opportunities for comedic situations as we see Annie deal with her life, Maya's wedding, a budding romance with one of the stars of The IT Crowd and some undercooked Brazilian BBQ.

This movie is what you would expect: a contrived story that is primarily there to create situations in which Kristen Wiig and her co-stars can make you laugh. This movie proves my theory that a movie doesn't have to be good in every sense as long as it does one thing very well. 70's and 80's Jackie Chan movies didn't inspire us to be better people, but I can still watch Drunken Master and be excited about it. Bridesmaids won't make us take a look at the Man in the Mirror, but it will make us laugh for a couple of hours. Given how rarely Hollywood comedies do that for me, Mrs. Wiig deserves a cookie.

Crazy on the Outside

I saw this film with my father, and for once we completely agreed on how good a film was. Every single person in the cast was perfect in their roles. Tim Allen has always been hit or miss for me, but in this instance he was excellent playing the loveable, well intentioned but often in trouble protagonist. Allen's Tommy has just gotten out of prison and begins to deal with life outside of the prison. Helping him is his sister, Vicky. Sigourney Weaver proved that turning 60 will not affect her ability to put amazing performances in as she plays the sister as well as is possible, simultaneously making us laugh and cringe at her antics.

The supporting cast is filled with excellent performances as well. JK Simmons nearly steals the show as Vicky's amorous husband and Julie Bowen impressed me playing Tommy's girlfriend that nearly has multiple personalities. Ray Liotta and Jeanne Tripplehorn characters don't offer much in terms of comedy, but both actors use the roles to inject a small dose of reality into the film.

All in all, this flick is well worth the time it takes to watch. It doesn't really demand to be seen in the theater, but it definitely should be picked up as soon as it comes out on DVD.

Starting today....

I'm going to use this alot more. No one cares, I'm sure, but since I left MCTC I haven't been doing much writing, and I've sort of picked up the bug again. I'll probably review movies that I see/television that is notable (to me)/MMA events/anything that comes to mind.

Last night's episode of House, for example, was incredible. Everything that makes that show fun was present, and the House/Cuddy stuff was pushed to the back burner. Watching House and Wilson try and wrangle in the (HOT) woman that lives next door to their new apartment was hilarious fun, and watching Hanson try and outwit Foreman was equally fun. If you haven't watched House the past few seasons, check out last night's episode on Hulu ASAP: you won't be disappointed.

Also of note, last night, was the UFC's Ultimate Fight Night event. Unfortunately, Nate Diaz came up short in his fight against Gray Maynard, but he put on a hell of a performance. What was surprising, though, is how anti-Diaz/pro-Maynard Joe Rogan and Jeff Goldberg were. I'm fully aware of their often misguided exuberance towards one fighter or another, but typically it's in a case where one fighter is a star or a star in the making, and the other is lesser known. In this case, I just didn't get it. Maynard is far from being a star, and Diaz is just as marketable. It is funny, though, how if you just listened to the commentary, you would think that Diaz got absolutely tooled... Maynard's face and Diaz relatively unmarked mug told a different story, of course.

I'm also surprised with how often Rogan/Goldberg mention Nick Diaz whenever Nate fights. Of all the Strikeforce products that I would expect them to talk about - and I assume that talking about him is the UFC's way of letting Nick know that he's welcome back should he ever leave Strikeforce - Nick Diaz would be the last person I'd expect. I guess it makes sense in that Dana White/Joe Silva always like guys that come to fight - and make no mistake, if a Diaz brother is in the cage they bring it - but between his erratic behavior and possible inability to get licensed in California/Nevada due to... medication problems, it would've seemed unlikely to me that they really want him back. Here's hoping it happens, though... I'd love nothing more than to see Nick take the strap off of GSP.

ECW tonight...

It is absolutely insane to me that for tonight's episode of ECW they chose the Diva twins matchup as the main event instead of the Money in the Bank participants tag match.