Two Reviews

I’m almost embarrassed to say that I went to see BRIDESMAIDS on Saturday, but, there was nothing else showng that I wanted to see, and I had the afternoon to kill, so I went.  Actually, aside from the amorality, immorality, and foul language, it’s not bad.  The writers seemed obsessed with the F word, for no good reason – it would have been a better movie without it.  Not being a watcher of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, for whom she is a regular, I had no idea who Kristen Wiig was, but now I am a fan.  She was the star of the movie and created a delightful, lovable, vulnerable, really cute character.  The movie had a lot of cute girls in it, and a few, um not so cute, and is a bit of fluff.  It is about a group of girl friends, one of whom is getting married, and the events that surround the planning of the wedding – the shower, getting the dresses, the bachelorette party, etc. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, the bride’s best friend, who is asked to be the maid of honor and who, in competition with another friend, miss perfect, who is planning every event, manages to ruin every one of them – she’s a born loser.  Along the way she meets and falls in love with a state trooper (it is a romantic comedy, after all), and they have their problems, and so it goes.  There are some really funny scenes, but the underlying theme seems to be, “Sleep with as many people as you can as often as you can, and that’s what life is all about.”  (the amorality and immorality), but, as I said, the underlying story really is interesting and a lot of fun.  So keeping that in mind, as a Romantic Comedy, I give it a socks up 7.5; as a raunchy buddy film it gets a 1.5.  You’ve been warned.

Last night was book club night, movie night for me, and there wasn’t much to choose from, and I wound up watching BURLESQUE, which is a very misleading title.  When one thinks of “burlesque,” one thinks of pole dancers, sleazy strippers, and the like.  This movie is not about that; Burlesque is the name of the club owned by Cher’s character.  Granted, the story is as trite and cliched as it’s possible to be, but it’s so well done that it really pulled me in and I loved it.  And consider the cast: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Peter Gallagheer, and Stanley Tucci (one of my all-time favorite actors).  There is a lot of fantastic Fosse-like choreography beautifully done, and some great singing by Cher with her smoky voice and Aguilera who can really wail.  Simple story – the naive farm girl from Iowa (of course), played by Aguilera), somes to the big city (Los Angeles) to become a star, works her way into the club, owned by Cher’s character, as a cocktail waitress, replaces a sick girl in the chorus, and becomes astar – how often have you seen that!  But the story goes way beyond that and gets into characer and relationships, and the acting is excellent, the singing and choreography wonderful, and the two hours just flew by.  I really loved it and give it a socks up 8.  Unike BIDESMAIDS, you don’t have to worry about foul language, graphic sex, or awful people, and can just enjoy the fun story with touches of GYPSY, CABARET, and 42nd STREET.