BRIDESMAIDS

Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo

Directed by Paul Feig

Starring Kriten Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd and Jon Hamm

Megan: You're your problem and you're also your solution.

For years now, the boys have been yukking it up at the movies for our enjoyment and they have been doing it as crassly as humanly possible. These male bonding pictures have relegated the girls to the background as nagging wives, naïve love interests and/or sexual throwaway characters. Well, not anymore. In BRIDESMAIDS, Kristen Wiig and her gaggle of gal pals kick the buddy genre hard in the nuts to prove that anything the boys can do, they can do better, and more often than not, in more gross a fashion. Girls being girls though, they are sure to bring a little heart to the table too.

Wiig, a co-writer on the project, is Annie, a single girl who is not at the best juncture in her life. Her bakery business fell flat; she has to live with the most irksome roommates imaginable (Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson); and she has seemingly lost all faith that her prince will one day come, accepting instead to fall into the bed of man with whom she clearly has no future (Jon Hamm). Now, while she can certainly do worst than Hamm as far as friends with benefits go, her declining stock hits a new low when her oldest friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph, herself an old friend from Saturday Night Live), announces her engagement. Ordinarily this would be a joyous occasion but when you’re aging and single and your oldest partner in crime is leaving you to fend for yourself in the desolate desert that is dating, news like that takes on much grander implications.

Annie proceeds to buckle and break down amidst the pressure of putting together the perfect bridal parties and the prospect of losing her best friend to the other side. Fortunately, Wiig negotiates a meltdown like no other and she does so in BRIDSEMAIDS with great care, allowing viewers to truly see how complex a person can get the longer they are subjected to the games single people play. Of course, she is also backed up by a hilarious ensemble, most notably Rose Byrne as a classic “frenemy” and Melissa McCarthy as a big girl who isn’t afraid to cry (or take a dump in a sink for that matter). And while I was mildly disappointed to see the film affirm that true happiness cannot be achieved on one’s own, I was too busy laughing hysterically to care.

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PAUL

Written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

Directed by Greg Mattola

Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig

and Seth Rogen

Graeme Willy (at Comic-Con): I love it here. It feels right.

It has never been cool to be a nerd, but if the nerd community has proven anything in recent years, it is that they are a force to be reckoned with. They will band together when necessary to attend giant conventions where they can spend hundreds of dollars on autographs or they will rally thousands of signatures to ensure that their favorite television programs, no matter how obscure, stay on the air. And as their collective power has increased, the more they find themselves represented in the mainstream media, naturally allowing the masses to love them for their endearing social ineptitude. This newfound love of all things geeky is what makes movies like Greg Mattola’s new alien film, PAUL, possible and, boy oh boy, does it ever geek it up hardcore.

PAUL opens on a lone farm house in a large, empty field. Windmills start to turn frantically as a rocking chair rocks back and forth on a porch front. Before long, flashing lights fill the sky and a dog barks at the moon. This is quintessential aliens from outer space cinema and the kitch-tastic intro tells us right away that we will be both delighting in, and sending up, all that we have come to know about alien invader movies. As an added bonus though, stars and writers, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, (the former previously penned the hilarious SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ), provide us with a rather touching look at the loneliness and insecurity that might accompany men who have never known anything other than their obsessions and each other. This is certainly no small feat considering their co-star is a little green guy voiced by Seth Rogen. The threesome embark on a road trip through a horribly unforgiving middle-America, in an attempt to get the little guy home – he had phoned in earlier – and run into a number of peculiar characters, from an actual man in black (Jason Bateman) to a religious zealot (Kristin Wiig). Ideas about God, the universe and space genitalia are exchanged en route.

Fortunately, geeky humour works for all – the geeks who get the inside jokes and everybody else who can just laugh at how incredibly geeky everything is. PAUL may be occasionally predictable or transparent but Mattola is sure to infuse this buddy movie with as much heart and sincerity as is possible, given the subject matter. His work may seem extreme at times (SUPERBAD anyone?) but it is also always relatable and genuine. While he has his audience distracted with the enjoyment they derive from immersing themselves in nerd culture, whether that inspires superiority in one viewer or solace for another, he manages to sneak something in that no one would see coming and that is humanity. Who knew that meeting an alien from another planet could make you feel more like you belong on this one?

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DESPICABLE ME

Written by Ken Daurio

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Voices by Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand and Kristen Wiig

Gru: Good night, sleep tight.  Don’t let the bed bugs bite … because there are literally thousands of them … and there’s probably something in your closet too.

You’ve gotta love an imagined world where there are evil super villains lurking around stealing things like pyramids and what not right from under the world’s noses.  Arguably, super villains exist in our world but the consequences of their dastardly plots are  little too real for me.  Someone who wants to shrink the moon and hold it ransom though so he can be the biggest, baddest super villain in the world though – now that’s my kinda guy.  Or at least he would be if he weren’t trapped in such a predictable, hollow plot and bogged down by such tired, unfunny dialogue.

Gru is despicable.  As he is the center of his own universe, from his point of view, he is DESPICABLE ME.  Voiced with a pretty sturdy Russian American accent by Steve Carrell, Gru is so evil he pops kids’ balloons after he blows them up for them (gasp!) and freezes the long line of people waiting for their lattes at a local coffee shop so he can go to the front of the line.  I’m shaking in fear here.  What he does next is actually pretty gross when you think about it.  He adopts three little girls so that they can bring a shipment of cookies to his new nemesis, Vector, who is evil with “both direction and magnitude” and voiced delightfully by Jason Segel.  The cookies are really robots though and are designed to steal the shrink ray Gru needs for his moon heist.

In a not at all surprising turn of events, Gru, a man who is supposed to embody evil, finds himself caring for these adorable little girls.  When the girls’ dance recital poses a conflict with his moon heist, you can almost piece together every little lesson still to be learned.  Family films do not have to be complex or present a true face of evil to make their point but they have to try a little harder than this to remain original.  Instead, DESPICABLE ME almost ends up living up to its name and leaves you with little more than a few funny moments and some pretty awesome little minion characters.  Those guys made the movie!  Too bad it wasn’t about them.

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MACGRUBER

Written by Will Forte, John Soloman and Jorma Taccone

Directed by Jorma Taccone

Starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Philippe and Val Kilmer

MacGruber: There's a big difference between winging it and seeing what happens.

On “Saturday Night Live”, MACGRUBER, a throwback to the 1980’s television series, “MacGyver”, is played up every now and then as a skit where a hapless dope (played happily by Will Forte) has to diffuse some bomb in some dire scenario at the last second.  Of course, he never succeeds and is constantly blowing himself up but he still comes back kicking even harder the next time around.  Now that MACGRUBER is hitting the silver screen, he goes very big and I see no reason why he should have to go home again to that tiny little set.

Under the direction of “Saturday Night Live” regular director, Jorma Taccone, “MacGruber” is a film that is serious in its conviction to the complete buffoonery of its title character but not at all serious about anything else.  There is nothing believable about a failed explosives expert who hasn’t progressed in the least since the 80’s  but by taking his joke of a life seriously, MACGRUBER becomes real.  More importantly, MACGRUBER is really funny.  Forte is unflinching as MacGruber and that can’t be easy to do when you have to strut like a chicken with a piece of celery sticking out of your butt.  Honestly, doesn’t that one sentence alone make you want to run out and see this movie already?  What if told you Val Kilmer plays MacGruber’s arch nemesis, Dieter Von Cunth? It’s completely asinine, yes, but that’s what makes it funny.  Still not good enough?  Kristen Wiig!!  C'mon!

How long has it been since we last saw a “Saturday Night Live” inspired film that was actually watchable, let alone funny?  Like most "SNL" films, you would think MACGRUBER would blow up in its own face.   Just like the character himself though, MACGRUBER the movie has shown up at the last possible second to save the “SNL” films from oblivion and this time, he manages to make it out before the bomb blows everything in sight.

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