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Finally, a chick flick that is as crude as a guy's movie. Bridesmaids is a great way to follow up the start of the summer movie season, with the macho testosterone adventure of Fast Five and Thor breaking the ground first. It's another feather in the cap of producer Judd Apatow, a career boost for directir Paul Feig and an opportunity for several actresses to breakthrough into bigger opportunities. And for the lead actress and co-writer Kristen Wiig, it's her opportunity to show that she doesn't have to march into former SNL cast member obscurity. She's got the talent and the understanding of how big screen comedy works to ensure that she be given another lead role or two to cement her place as Hollywood's best go-to comedic movie actress.

In a lot of ways Bridesmaids plays out in that standard way for adult comedies, giving us an underdog to root for whose stuck in one of life's ruts. Wiig plays a late thirtysomething named Annie who's life is seemingly on the verge of hitting bottom but never quite seems to flatten out. After shutting the doors on her failed bakery and finding little more than a physical outlet for her relationship woes with a jackass playboy (an uncredited Jon Hamm, doing great work playing a world-class prick), Annie gets a little ray of sunshine in her otherwise depressing life: being picked as the maid of honor by her best friend Lillian (ex-SNLer Maya Rudolph) for her wedding. But as Annie just gets started making big plans for Lil's big day, in comes the rich and beautiful new friend of Lillian, Helen (Rose Byrne). Before their first meeting is over, Annie has started to dislike Helen for her egotistical, money-buys-happiness ways and starts to feel threatened in her best friend status with Lillian.

As Annie tries to make Lillian's wedding special using her own sensibilities, Helen is there at every turn to try and make Annie's suggestions look cheap or contrite. The other bridesmaids (The Office's Ellie Kemper, Reno 911's Wendi McLendon-Covey and Mike & Molly's Melissa McCarthy) are along to watch the fireworks between Annie and Helen get progressively louder and more spectacular. Along the way Annie meets an Irish-accented police trooper (Chris O'Dowd) who she turns to when she needs a shoulder to cry on, and to later start macking out with when she needs a little bit more.

What makes these kinds of comedies work is the quality of the jokes, the actors' ability to deliver the dialogue (and riff out their own material), an emotional core for us to care about the central character's plight and top notch editing to tie it all together. Bridesmaids has got all that, and that would be enough to give it a recommendation. However, it's got two other great qualities going for it.

The first of these is Wiig and co-writer Annie Mumalo's female-centric view and their ability to make it easy for anyone, man or woman, to relate to Annie, Lillian and her bridesmaids. All of the players are fantastic in their roles and have golden moments to shine in their comedy (while still good in her performance, the sole exception being Byrne who's given the villainess heels to wear throughout the picture.) Wiig portrays Annie as utterly believable in her messed-up existence and in making us believe that she's got a best friend in Rudolph's Lillian. And while guys who think The Hangover was the decade's great comedy might scoff at being talked in to seeing Bridesmaids, when word about the sexual crudeness and grossness of what happens to Annie and her pals gets out, these guys are going to kick themselves in the ass for missing out on watching Bridesmaids when it played in theaters. Hopefully that won't be a problem; Bridesmaids is the perfect counterpart to The Hangover for women, and for guys to see that when the shit hits the fan for ladies, it's way worse to behold.

The second outstanding part of Bridesmaids is the performance given by Melissa McCarthy as the chunky bridesmaid Megan. The longer the show went on, the more outrageous and hilarious her character blossomed into. McCarthy nearly steals the spotlight from Wiig, but never quite enough that you forget about Annie being the main character. If Bridesmaids is as big a success as I hope it will be, McCarthy will be offered bigger parts in other films shortly. If there's a Bridesmaids 2, then Megan will be an important part of that debauchery.

No spoiling from me of the jokes or the big scenes leading up to the cringe-worthy moments, of which there is an enormous push the boundaries moment one halfway through the film. When you see it you'll know what it is.

Funnier than The 40-Year Old Virgin and nearly as outrageous as The Hangover, Bridesmaids redefines my concept of a chick flick. If you take a date to see it and they love it, they're a keeper.

Review Score: 77 / 100