They Came Together

They Came Together
June 27, 2014
Lionsgate
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This is better than Wanderlust, perhaps because director David Wain is again reunited with his Wet Hot American Summer writing partner Michael Showalter.  As it happens, they wrote the script a dozen years before this was released, soon after WHAS, and it is also a spoof, although definitely less rooted in a specific time.  I found it equally funny, but apparently it was even less of a success.  (I wanted to see it in a theater but had to wait for DVD.)  Like WHAS, it has a dark side, but there are moments where rom-com tropes are played very close to usual.  Certainly the casting of Paul Rudd as the "handsome in a nonthreatening sort of way" male lead leads to self-parody, although Amy Poehler always seems much too smart for her character.  The frame device of Bill Hader (among other things, The Voice in Scott Pilgrim) and Ellie Kemper (Bridesmaids) as Kyle and Karen, another couple they're having dinner with, helps give the movie structure.  (It was originally designed without this device.)  I also need to mention that the music is dead-on, including the in-movie Norah Jones video, with a confused-looking John Stamos.  I don't know that this movie will age well, but for now it's on a level with WHAS.

Michael Ian Black was McKinley in WHAS and is Trevor here.  Ken Marino was Victor in WHAS, Rudd's brother Rick in Wanderlust, and is Tommy here.  Zandy Hartig was Marcy in Wanderlust and is Katherine here.

Jason Mantzoukas was part of the Gay Couple in Baby Mama and is Bob here.  Alex Hartman was a Princeton Applicant in Admission and is '80s Dancer Party Guest here, while Barbara Vincent was a Birthday Party Guest there and is a Football Player here, and Gameela Wright is a Police Officer here and was Woman in Adoption Agency there.  Zak Orth has been showing up in small roles in my movies since In & Out, and here he plays the Waiter with Pole.  Cobie Smulders did the voice of Wonder Woman in The Lego Movie and plays Tiffany here.

It's like New York is another character.

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.