This movie needed Tina Fey – both the humor and dignity of her writing and her comic presence on-screen. Not that I am some huge Tina Fey fan, I’m not, but I admit her material is great compared to most modern comedy. The comedy in Bridesmaids feels to me like warmed-over Tina Fey, executed by a collection of people who just couldn’t pull it off. Bridesmaids reminds me a bit of Mean Girls in spirit and overall comic feel, but it has almost none of the latter film’s smooth pacing and comic snap, and it certainly doesn’t have actors like pre-meltdown Lindsey Lohan (people forget that she was once really good) and the fabulous Rachael McAdams to glue the whole thing together.

I like Kristen Wiig, but she’s no Tina Fey, and I must conclude from this film that she cannot as a lead character carry a weak script. I’m not sure she can carry a strong script, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until the day that someone writes a really good movie and puts her in the lead role (don’t hold your breath.) Kristen Wiig does have some funny moments in this film, but she also has a lot of flat moments and moments that feel a bit forced, and she somehow makes her character really unlikeable. You are supposed to despise her nemesis Rose Byrne and root for Wiig, but by the end of the film I liked Byrne a lot more, and basically wanted Wiig to go away.

Rose Byrne is an actress who has really grown on me – I once referred to her in a review as a “soulless widget,” but I have long since realized I was wrong. Her performance in Sunshine sold me on her, but she’s been great in a wide variety of different roles.  As my wife pointed out, she has this incredible ability to change the way she looks – she’s really beautiful but can very easily “dial down” and look plain and unremarkable in different ways. Byrne gives a great multi-layered performance as the character everyone is supposed to hate, and her confident presence and screen warmth kind of make Wiig and Rudolph look a bit like amateurs. Maya Rudolph does not have much to do in the way of comedy in this film; she’s kind of just a place-holder, and not a very likable one at that. As for Melissa McCarthy … well, my wife was happy to see her getting a role that was something other than the “overweight best friend” or the “overweight family member,” and she liked that the character was really confident and powerful, and also really successful. I agree with all that, but I also found her character to be really disgusting, and I couldn’t get past that. I guess that’s just my problem.

The only time the film had any kind of emotional life to it was right at the end, during the Wilson Phillips song, but it’s not because the song is used well in the movie, or even makes sense in the story. It’s simply because the film is so emotionally blah that suddenly hearing that great (if cheesy) 80’s song kind of snaps you out of the malaise you’re in from having watched the rest of the movie.

Bridesmaids: it has its moments, but for me at least it’s a hodgepodge of gross comedy and unlikable characters, mostly lacking in comic inspiration and heart. I liked Dinner for Schmucks a lot more, believe it or not.