event The Watching Hour: Bridesmaids

There’s a degree of calculation at work in Bridesmaids, which shrewdly provides both a feminine answer to the wedding-themed buddy raunch of The Hangover and a rebuke to critics of producer Judd Apatow, who’s consistently (and fairly) dogged for his portrayal—and non-portrayal—of women. Stepping out from her omnipresence in Saturday Night Live bits, co-writer and star Kristen Wiig still seems more sketch comedian than actor, but her script has enough genuine wit and heart to make its naked commercial savvy forgiveable. Yet as much as it tries to be raunchier-than-thou (and succeeds), Bridesmaids has insight into what a wedding means to everyone other than the bride. It laughs to keep from crying.

There’s a degree of calculation at work in Bridesmaids, which shrewdly provides both a feminine answer to the wedding-themed buddy raunch of The Hangover and a rebuke to critics of producer Judd Apatow, who’s consistently (and fairly) dogged for his portrayal—and non-portrayal—of women. Stepping out from her omnipresence in Saturday Night Live bits, co-writer and star Kristen Wiig still seems more sketch comedian than actor, but her script has enough genuine wit and heart to make its naked commercial savvy forgiveable. Yet as much as it tries to be raunchier-than-thou (and succeeds), Bridesmaids has insight into what a wedding means to everyone other than the bride. It laughs to keep from crying.