# Bridesmaids - Blu-Ray Review



## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7160[/img]*Title: Bridesmaids
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy
Directed by: Paul Feig
Written by: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 125 Minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: 9/20/2011* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4.5stars:
*Audio:* :4.5stars: 
*Extras:* :5stars: 
*HTS Overall Score:*89 



*Summary:* 
Kristen Wiig leads the cast as Annie, a maid of honor whose life unravels as she leads her best friend Lillian (Rudolph) and a group of colorful and very funny bridesmaids (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) on a wild ride down the road to matrimony. Annie's life is a mess and only begins to get worse when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged and she must serve as the maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie attempts to persevere through the onslaught of planning duties only to be thwarted by Lillian’s new friend Helen (Byrne). As the entire effort begins to unravel, so does the rest of Annie’s life until she finally hits bottom and must now pick herself up and rebuild some of the bridges that she has taken a blowtorch to lately. But that won’t be so easy until she recognizes that she is the one at the root of her problems.

‘Bridesmaids’ is an ‘R’ rated adult oriented comedy from Producer Judd Apatow that scores on several fronts. This could have easily turned into another stereo-typical romantic comedy ‘chick-flick’ but, regardless of how the summary up top reads, the filmmakers created a raunchy buddy comedy that has a lot of absolutely hilarious moments and couldn't be farther from the typical before mentioned “chick-flick” genre. That’s not to say that at its core it’s not a relationship movie; to the contrary ‘Bridesmaids’ is all about the relationships between these six friends. One of the things I found most refreshing about this girlfriend comedy was that the comedy did not come at the expense of the opposite-sex. Several movies in this genre come off as male-bashing and that is one of the biggest reasons I usually avoid such films, but ‘Bridesmaids’ keeps clear of that whole thing. [img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7161[/img]

I thought that Bridesmaids was an incredibly funny movie. Now that may be because I watched it with my beautiful wife and her lovely friends that all couldn't stop laughing, but I laughed until it almost hurt as well. Wiig plays the neurotic, self-destructive character perfectly and Byrne delivers an equally perfect performance as the almost evil ‘Helen’. But it was Melissa McCarthy from TV’s Mike and Molly that turned in the performance of the movie. McCarty is absolutely hilarious as Megan, Lillian’s soon-to-be sister-in-law and is the type of breakout role that put Zach Galifianakus on the map after ‘The Hangover’. The other character I enjoyed was Chris O’Doyd’s 'Officer Roads'. O’Doyd; an Irish actor most famous for his role as ‘Roy’ on the British TV show ‘The IT Crowd’, which I am a huge fan of, and for his role as the blind swordsman in 2010’s ‘Dinner for Schmucks’, has a subtle and genuine quality to his humor and stands out in Bridesmaids. 

This isn’t probably going to be everyone’s kind of comedy. The humor varies from subtle and quirky to crude and raunchy, but never reaches what I felt to be offensively absurd. If I actually went ahead and compared it to something, I would have to say that it falls, on a comedic and story level anyway, with ‘Old School’. It’s hilariously funny, some crude humor but overall it has a story to tell about a small group of friends. 


*Rating:* 
Rated R for some strong sexuality, and language throughout.

*Video:* :4.5stars:

Bridesmaids hosts a 1080P AVC encode and the results are fairly excellent. Resolution is consistently sharp throughout most of the film and only weans occasionally as a result of the filming process. Colors are accurate and reveal a dynamic pallet of hues throughout the movie's 125 minute runtime. There is no noticeable artifacting or any other digital noise or deficiencies to speak of. Black levels look natural and have plenty of depth in darker scenes and shadow details are equally well intact. Overall this is a very solid transfer and is an accurate representation of what the filmmakers were shooting for.

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7162[/img][img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7163[/img][img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7164[/img]


*Audio:* :4.5stars: 
As with the video, the audio isn’t at the forefront of this film. The DTS-HD-MA is equally presented as the video. There wasn’t much to the surround activity in the normal sense, there were no defining LFE moments that stood out and there was no ongoing score to speak of. That being said, this is still an outstanding, well rounded audio presentation. Directionality is perfectly synced between left, right and center channels and comes across incredibly natural. Tonal reproduction is equally natural sounding and isn’t overly processed or intrusive. There was a lot of attention given to subtle and nuanced ambient sound from the surround channels that worked more as a way to encompass the entire sound stage rather than a tool to get your attention. Overall this was a satisfying and very well put together sound design. 


*Extras:* :5stars:



Feature commentary with Paul Feig, Annie Mumolo, Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper
Theatrical & Unrated version of Bridesmaids
Gag reel 
Line-O-Rama parts 1&2 
Made of honor: Behind the scenes of Bridesmaids 
Blind date (2 segments) 
Deleted scenes 
Extended/Alternate scenes 
Outtakes
“Hold On” Music Video
Bonus DVD of Bridesmaids
Digital Copy of Bridesmaids
BD-Live enabled
pocket BLU

*Overall:* :4.5stars:
I definitely enjoyed this movie. It was a welcome change to not only the stereo-typical ‘chickflick’ genre, but I also think it was a much need change to the comedy genre as a whole. For me personally, it was a break of the constant bombardment of hardcore action and adventure movies we normally review. Bridesmaids definitely enters some territory on a the mainstream level that in the past has been reserved for men’s buddy comedies such as The Hangover, Old School and the like. There were definitely some moments of crude humor and it is definitely an adult oriented comedy, but it doesn’t rely on these elements as a crutch to get a few laughs, they are actually part of the story that drives Annie’s life more and more off the rails. There are some oddly paced moments here and there and there were a couple of things that seemed overly done in a beating a dead horse type of way, but I think that this was also just part of what feeds the story. In the end this was a great comedy and should be thought of as such. 

*Recommendation: Rent It!​*



Official Blu-Ray Reviews Scoring


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## smurphy522 (Sep 21, 2010)

I watched it w/the wife and some friends this weekend. It was definitely funny and more or less - like Dale indicates shy's away from the genre it will no doubt be placed into.

It was enjoyable though not deemed for repeated viewing. I think you can get it all in one sitting.

Highly recommended for a rental.


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## BadOrange (Jun 6, 2011)

I watched it also. It's definitely good for a laugh. Melissa McCarthy was a show stealer. I kept looking for her parts to come up.


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## Z71SierraSLT (Nov 9, 2010)

The things you do for us Dale! My wife suggested that I watch this too. She saw it in the theaters with her gal pals.


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## Lwbee (Sep 17, 2011)

'BAM' nail on the head review!The female "Hangover" is very funny. I watched it with my bride as well and we both found it funny even them making fun of us guys! The character Megan plays that offbeat person always good for a side joke and delivers throughout. 
Great review Dale!


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## mojojojo (Aug 7, 2011)

I was hesitant to watch his movie, but it was a good laugh, not embarrassing or stupid. A couple of scenes were off the wall funny!


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

My wife and i watched it the other night we thought it was comedy all the way through.:rofl: Thanks for th review Dale:T


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