Cinema 2011 #62: Bridesmaids

After sitting down and mulling over Bridesmaids, easily the best comedy so far this year with a star-making performance from its writer Kristen Wiig, I got to wondering just why this female ensemble of funny girls, dressed in couture, and talking about love, life and sex worked, when their New York neighbours failed so spectacularly, and twice, to carry over small screen critical success to the cinema? It’s because Bridesmaids, for all its projectile vomiting and food poisoning incontinence, is clever. It’s a brilliantly funny script that speaks volumes on the petty nature of competition and jealousy, on the value of deep-rooted friendship and connects better with a generation who can believe the self-destructive flaws of a woman who’s life post-boom means a dead-end job and moving back in with her mother. Sex and the City 2, on the other hand, had its star walk down a private beach in Dubai while her Indian servant carried a parasol.

Bridesmaids is the story of Annie (Kristen Wiig), and her attempt be the perfect maid of honour to friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph), but whose efforts are hampered by circumstance, her own self-destructive tendencies and a fierce rivalry with other bridesmaid Helen, a wealthy society wife played by Rose Byrne, who knows she can do a better job. There will be an itinerary of events to plan and enjoy, from dress shopping to the bachelorette party in Vegas, but will Annie be able to cope with the financial and emotional strain of the wedding while she tries to piece her life back together after the foreclosure of her bakery business in downtown Milwaukee?

Cinema 2011 #54: X-Men: First Class

It’s been over a decade since Bryan Singer’s X-Men effectively relaunched the cinematic superhero as a viable movie commodity. While remaining loyal to 40 years of increasingly outlandish source material, Singer centred his mutants around the usual suspects of the Marvel universe, following the popular kids of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters and their suped-up adventures in upstate New York. With some slick CGI, Halle Berry in skintight leather and two gravitas growling British thesps to lend it some weight, his solidly entertaining origins flick unleashed a new wave of spandex-clad superstars upon an audience of financially flush Generation X-ers ready to relive Saturday morning cartoons on the silver screen. 10 years and three sequels later, the X-Men franchise was looking distinctly X-pired, after the critical acclaim of number two (X2) was tarnished by a disappointing third (The Last Stand) and ill-advised spinoff for Hugh Jackman’s rascally poster-boy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

But after the success of JJ Abrams retro Star Trek redux, that boldly went back to the drawing board where 10 films and 30 years of cinema had gone before, there was new-found interest in Stan Lee’s wunderkinder. As mutants by their very nature are adaptations of the norm, we get X-Men: First Class, a genetic blend of prequel, retrograde revision and swingin’ 60s origins tale, under the eyes of Matthew Vaughn’s direction. Vaughn is very much in vogue after striking big with the last year’s riotous Kick Ass, and together with writing sidekick Jane Goldman, knows something about bringing a fresh appeal to the very crowded market of costumed heroes. And while their efforts fly high, they never quite reach first class.

Magneto was pretty adamant that paper did in fact cover rock

Their story involves the beginnings of the bumpy relationship between the two leaders of mutantkind, James McAvoy’s mind-bending Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s metal-morphing Erik Lehnsherr. We begin with a young Erik displaying his metalwork in a concentration camp in Poland, watched by Kevin Bacon’s sadistic Sebastian Shaw, a mutant who’ll go to any length to develop the boy’s powers, and finding rage to be a potent trigger. On the other side of the world, Charles is living an affluent life in the family mansion, but already showing altruistic intent as he welcomes the shapeshifting Raven into his home. A speedy cut to 20 years later and the grown-up Chuck is finishing his PhD in groovy Oxford, chatting up girls, chug chug chugging pints between punts and ignoring Jennifer Lawrence’s filled-out Raven’s romantic pinings. Erik is still disgruntled with his lot and jetsetting around the globe, on the hunt for Shaw and taking out Nazis with his linguistic prowess, metallic abilities and impeccably tailored suits.