Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids
May 13, 2011
Universal
Comedy
DVD
B-

When I first saw this movie, it made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me consider walking out at the really gross food-poisoning scene.  My reaction on watching it for I think the fifth time was not as extreme in any regard.  I still think Kristen Wiig does a good job, as star and co-writer, of capturing a particular kind of woman who's messed up her life but not as much as she thinks.  Also, it is nice to see female friendship, in various forms, put at the center, even if the subject is ostensibly a wedding.  This does mean unfortunately that the men are really short-changed, some of them not even getting lines.  I certainly would've liked to have seen more of Chris O'Dowd's nice Irish cop.  And even some of the women have unresolved plot threads, including Wiig's own.  (Does she start another bakery or what?)  That said, Melissa McCarthy comes close to stealing the movie in what I recall as her first significant big-screen role.

Wilson Phillips appear as themselves, and Chynna Phillips was the love interest Cindy in The Invisible Kid.  Nancy Carell was the Health Clinic Counselor in The 40 Year Old Virgin but is less memorable here as Helen's Tennis Partner, while Joe Nunez was Man Buffing Floor there and is Oscar the Security Guard here.  Jessica St. Clair, who plays Whitney at the bridal salon, would be Deena Schuster in Wanderlust.

Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio (AKA The Boat That Rocked)
April 1, 2009
Universal etc.
Comedy, Musical, Historical
DVD
C+

I'm ambivalent about this movie, so let's get the negatives out of the way first.  This is the fictional, if inspired by true events, story of, yes, a pirate radio station in the days when the BBC did not like to play rock or pop.  Specifically, it's 1966-67, and as such I recognize that it's a period piece and this was not the most feminist of times or places.  That said, I feel that the way that sex and women are presented is excessively retrograde.  The next British movie I'll review, In the Loop, is not really feminist either, but it does treat the women as people with believable motivations, and there is nothing as creepy as the scene where a man tries to trick his partner into deflowering another man.  (Perhaps he's also trying to trick the other man, since it seems unlikely they would've gotten away with it, but this makes the scene no less creepy.)  Considering that writer-director Richard Curtis did The Tall Guy about twenty years earlier, it's fair to expect better than this.

The movie was released in a longer version (with the "boat" title) on the date I've listed, and perhaps there are fewer dangling threads in that.  To take a minor example, what the heck does Thick Kevin do on the boat?  Everyone else has a clear job but he just hangs out.  To take a more significant example, how does Philip Seymour Hoffman, as the "spirit of rock" character the Count, manage to survive after the boat sinks, while the Swedish crew disappears without comment?

The soundtrack and costumes are good at least (although the former is sometimes anachronistic), and there are some enjoyable performances, most notably Bill Nighy as Quentin, whose every line delivery and movement is perfect.  I might've rated this higher at the time, although what bothers me about it now bothered me then.

There are some Harry Potter connections here, with ex-spouses Kenneth "Lockhart" Branagh and Emma "Trelawney" Thompson playing respectively the main villain and the mother of the character closest to being the film's main character.  David Sterne was a Ministry Wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and is Marianne's Captain here.  Rhys Ifans, who's Gavin, would be Xenophilius Lovegood in Deathly Hallows, Part I, while Nighy would be Minister Rufus Scrimgeour.

Tom Brooke played a Production Assistant in Bridget Jones 2 but is more memorable here as Thick Kevin.  Kirsty Mather, who's John's Boat Girl, had recently been a Hen in Mamma Mia!  Chris O'Dowd, who's sweet and goofy as Simon (the most-betrayed-by-a-woman character) would be the love interest Rhodes in Bridesmaids.