Bridesmaids The Rewatchables
Bridesmaids poster
Bridesmaids

What’s Aged the Best?

Jon Hamm as Ted; the gate-swing opening; Wendi McLendon-Covey as Rita; the $12 workout; Annie's store scenes; Jill Clayburgh casting; the cupcake scene and baking; Annie's mom's paintings; money and wedding absurdity; weddings as a movie trope; Helen's stepkids and lines; Wilson Phillips ending; ensemble performances; R-rated scatological humor; Milwaukee

In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:35Read transcript
  • Jon Hamm, in three scenes, escapes the Don Draper typecasting by playing the ultimate douchebag; "I really want you to leave, but I don't know how to say it without sounding like a dick" is the iconic line.
  • The opening gate swing of shame and Annie sneaking back into bed establish her character in two minutes.
  • Ted is a textbook narcissist everyone sees through, and making him horrible at sex is a great choice.
  • The rich douchebag in relation to a woman reverses usual comedy roles; Hamm looks like an actor on vacation in a well-written part of nine or ten minutes, down to the Porsche.
  • Wendi McLendon-Covey as Rita is so good it is puzzling she did not break out more; she is a Kim Cattrall 2.0 type.
  • Jennifer Coolidge was considered as an alternative for Rita but would have been distracting; McLendon-Covey is more subtle and would not be recast.
  • Rita's lines, including the semen blanket and her nine-year-old telling her to fuck off over pizza, remind viewers that married life is not idyllic.
  • Other holdovers: stealing Terry Crews's class to save $12, Annie's bad store work, the Jill Clayburgh casting, and the Bo Cosby joke.
  • The Fiona Apple song over the cupcake scene is noted, with Maya Rudolph married to Fiona Apple's ex Paul Thomas Anderson; the scene shows how broken Annie is about baking.
  • Baking in general in the Great British Bake Off era, including the cupcake leaf and the carrot cake, holds up.
  • Annie's mom's celebrity paintings, including Taylor Swift, are a subtle touch; her AA character outs people, including Bo Cosby.
  • Money, and how dumb and expensive weddings are, have aged well; the wedding industrial complex is real.
  • Weddings work as a movie trope because they put all the characters in one place; weddings also drive people crazy.
  • One participant recounts the only fight with their dad, three weeks before their wedding, over inviting a cousin's boyfriend to a guest list capped around 100-125.
  • Helen's stepkids and her 11 or 12 passive-aggressive lines, including the drink-passing line on the plane, are favorites.
  • It is nine golden retriever puppies; the Wilson Phillips ending and dancing hold up.
  • The ensemble performances, scatological humor and explicit R-rated comedy hold up; Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are underrated cities, and the "cock baby" graffiti is a favorite.