#144 | Bridesmaids 2: Maids of Honor

**Listen to our Bridesmaids episode on:**

Is Bridesmaids a romantic comedy? There’s definitely a love story, and the main plot centres around a wedding, but one of the defining aspects of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s Oscar-winning script is the focus on female friendship. The groom in the aforementioned wedding barely appears at all, while the budding relationship between Wiig and nice guy traffic cop is very much the B-story.

Bridesmaids is better described as a buddy comedy, but by the standards of the genre it takes the complex dynamics between the friends remarkably seriously. Yes, there’s an extended sequence in which a woman shits in a sink, but the film also foregrounds very real issues such as the pressures of economic imbalance, the pain of watching your best friend move ahead of you in life and the mind games insecure people often play on each other.

All of this might make Bridesmaids sound rather dour, but of course anyone who’s seen it – and at this point most people have – can attest that the movie is also gloriously, uproariously funny. Wiig is brilliant in the lead role, expressing the full range of her character’s sadness, resentment and insecurity with the subtlest of line readings, while Melissa McCarthy finally gets a showcase for the full force of her physical comedy chops as unfiltered sister-of-the-bride Megan.

Rose Byrne also redefined her career as the passive-aggressive antagonist Helen, who steamrolls over distracted bride Maya Rudolph’s nuptials and attempts to assert herself as the alpha best-friend in the process. There’s also sterling support from Wendi McLendon-Covey as an embittered mom of three very horny teenage boys, Ellie Kemper as a discontented newlywed and a magnificently odious turn from Jon Hamm as the regrettable fuck buddy we’ve all cursed ourselves for gravitating towards at one time or another.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss everything from swearing at children to brake light drinking games to (somehow) farts that sound like Corrs songs, before revisiting the Bridesmaids cast eight years later with some sequel ideas. You can download or stream for free right now by following the links at the top of this blog post, or by searching for Beyond The Box Set on your preferred podcasting app.

Next week, we kick off our Holiday season for 2019 with a very appropriate first title. Until then, happy listening and watch out for that Brazilian food…