‘Bridesmaids’ Revisited

“CHICK FLICKS DON’T HAVE TO SUCK.” This quote from Movieline’s Jen Yamato was splashed across movie posters for Bridesmaids leading up to its wide release on May 13th, 2011. The marketing team must have loved the quote — it played perfectly into the film’s efforts to appeal to a wider demographic than a typical female-driven comedy. In fact, until Bridesmaids, more often than not female-driven comedies were almost always positioned as romantic comedies, and even then they were usually marketed as more rom than com. There was good reason for the marketing team to feel like they had to make sure people knew Bridesmaids was different. When you take that quote at face value, you’re left with a stark reminder of where we were a decade ago: asking if women were funny.

It seems hard to believe now, but just four years prior in 2007, Vanity Fair ran an infamous piece by Christopher Hitchens entitled “Why Women Aren’t Funny.” It was not parody. Hitchens goes on to ask, “Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend not to know what I am talking about.” At the time of the piece’s publication, Tina Fey’s 30 Rock was three months into its iconic run, Julia Louis-Dreyfus had won Emmys for performances in two different TV shows, and Kristen Wiig herself was carrying the institution of SNL on her back. Also, Carol Burnett, Jessica Walter, and Joan Rivers literally existed. So no, I don’t know what Hitchens was talking about — but let’s be generous and pretend that he was coming from a genuine place. If we entertain the notion that there was a time that existed when women in comedy weren’t funny — we’ll take that to mean in a style and format long-dominated by men — history will remember Bridesmaids as a watershed moment that smashed that perception.

No, Bridesmaids was not the first female-led comedy.

Nor was it the first to be funny. But it was unique; not only was it unapologetically broad in its humor and specific in its themes, but it also came stamped with the seal of approval of Judd Apatow, the reigning king of comedy films who made stars of men like Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Steve Carell, and Seth Rogen. His brand of comedy is ensemble-driven, a little raunchy in a testosterone-fueled kind of way, and tends to give way to a softer, emotional core in the films’ final acts. They may involve romance but rarely is that the driving plotline. Bridesmaids was a perfect fit for this film universe, except the focus just happened to be on women. Women who — like everyone — experience ebbs and flows in friendships, learn how to fail, and yes, sometimes shit their pants.

The film burst onto the scene like bad diarrhea (but like, really good diarrhea?) in 2011, earning $288 million globally. It garnered an Academy Award nomination for Melissa McCarthy, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture — Comedy, and made household names of Wiig, McCarthy, and Rose Byrne. Most incredibly, over 60% of the audience was over 30 — a rare feat for a raunchy comedy. It seemed as though we were primed for a future of female-driven comedies, equal opportunities to tell smart, pitch-perfect stories for adults, and the end of the question Hitchens’ so boldly posed. In some ways, the past decade did live up to the promise of Bridesmaids. In other ways, it definitely did not. Let’s look at what expectations were following the film’s success, and where we are today.

Long the bridesmaids, we assumed this cast would finally get their star turns in Hollywood.

Wiig and Rudolph had charmed on SNL for years, McCarthy was known largely in television (Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly), and Rose Byrne was a long-simmering talent with parts in prestige television (Damages) and modest hits (Insidious, Get Him to the Greek). When a film like Bridesmaids emerges — character-driven, ensemble in nature, and a major, genre-busting blockbuster — you naturally assume that the cast’s collective star power is poised to reach new heights.

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