It’s a script review, so I guarantee spoilers or your money back.
How It Works
First read this. Next download script here. Read by next Friday and post your lovely head musings in comments. It’s almost as easy as Michael Fassbender in Shame.
Screenplay by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
109 Pages
I ‘d marry it.
Yes, I have a lot of love for Bridesmaids and obviously the credit goes to to Mumolo & Wiig for writing such a fantastic script – however you cannot overlook the contribution of producer Judd Apatow. Our protagonist Annie walks a very similar path to the heroes of Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up – characters who all struggle to face-up to the responsibilities in their lives. That being said I think Bridesmaids is superior to both because at the centre of the story is a great protagonist.
Annie is a carefully-crafted character who could have easily become unsympathetic due to her behaviour (especially her later treatment of Lillian and Rhodes) however we like her because 1) she’s funny and 2) tragically flawed – Annie won’t allow people to help her because she won’t help herself. As Megan tells her:
…I do not associate with people that blame the world for their problems cause you’re your problem Annie, and you’re also your solution. You get that?
Annie chooses to rent an apartment that she cannot afford with a horrible brother and sister rather than moving-in with her kind mother. She’s a terrific cake-maker yet rather than trying to make that career work she settles for a job she hates so much she can’t even fake liking it. Annie’s in a terrible relationship with Ted who treats her awfully yet when she meets nice-guy Rhodes she runs from him the moment he tries to help her pick her life up.
By the end of the second-act a writer’s aim is to have their protagonist at their lowest point – Mumolo & Wiig certainly achieve that with Annie. She has lost her job, her home, the one man who cares for her and ironically her best-friend. Losing Lillian is what Annie (irrationally) fears most and her actions throughout the story are her way at trying to stop it happening yet it’s these deeds that end up creating a rift in their friendship.
I would always argue that Annie’s biggest antagonist in the story is herself however the presence of Helen is the catalyst for most of her poor choices. Breaking Bridesmaid into three stages, I first thought Lillian announcement of her marriage was the story’s inciting incident however I now think it’s the introduction of Helen. She is rich, beautiful, cultured and married consequently Annie feels threatened that she may replace her as Lillian’s best friend.
My favourite scene in the screenplay is between Annie and Helen as they try to out-do each other in giving Lillian’s engagement toast – it’s funny and also sets up the conflict that will go on during the rest of the story. Yet despite coming across as mirror opposite they both are driven to win Lillian’s friendship because they both have the same fear of being alone. Helen has no other friends, her husband is away most of the time and her step-kids hate her.
Of course Annie’s fear of losing Lillian to Helen is ill-founded because at the end of the story Annie saves Lillian wedding because she has one thing Helen does not – she really “knows” Lillian.
Annie and Helen aside – there’s some other nicely-written characters like Ted and Rhodes however it’s Megan who really shines. Like Alan from The Hangover she’s a bit of an oddball and the source of a lot of humour yet she’s no idiot – she’s the one responsible for making Annie finally see sense.
Stylistically I thought the script was a quick and easy read for 109 pages – plenty of white on the pages. Interestingly character descriptions (with the exception of ages) were non-existent except for the more “extreme” characters like Ted, Helen, Megan but even then it was still no more than a line. Yet these brief descriptions quickly helped us get a handle on them.
Annie and Lillian stand with MEGAN, 30′s, tomboyish, looking a bit odd in her floral dress.
Even reading the script it still comes across as very witty – the dialogue is sharp and in places laugh out loud funny. I know some reviewers objected to the the gross-out humour that comes from the dress-fitting set-piece but it is very well written and made me smile just from reading it. Even tiny details like Megan stealing the puppies from the bridal shower amused me. Yet despite all the comedy crammed into the script it never got in the way of the story.
So what didn’t work for me? I did think some of the more dramatic dialogue involving Rhodes and Annie and Megan and Annie as they try and talk sense to her was a bit too much on the nose. Also, and, this could be partly due to the poster as it suggest they have a large part to play in the story but I felt Rita and Becca were underdeveloped as characters. The practically disappear from the final act and was left wondering if they were going to start a romantic relationship together.
The above though are minor grumbles as I really liked this script. With the exception of Crazy, Stupid, Love, Bridesmaids was my favourite comedic screenplay of 2011. Smart and intelligent it’s more Apatowian than even Judd Apatow.
Next Week
I’m as serious cancer when I say we’ll be reading 50/50.
Right – a change of plan this week. This wasn’t the shooting script of 50/50 (as evident by the fact the title of the screenplay is I’m With Cancer) but an earlier draft therefore, as I’d hate someone to review an early draft of one of my screenplays, I think it would be unfair to critique this because it’s not finished. Instead I’m going to compare this draft with my (sketchy) memory of the film and make some suggestions as to why changes were made. Continue reading 
