‘Allowed me to accept my own taste’: why Bridesmaids is my feelgood movie
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Bridesmaids stars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper appeared at this year's Oscars to celebrate the film's 15th anniversary, with Wendi McLendon-Covey absent (recovering from a neck lift).
- Written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo and directed by Paul Feig, Bridesmaids grossed $306.5m at the box office and earned Oscar nominations after mainstream skepticism that a female-written, female-led comedy could work.
- The author first watched the film at 16 during what she calls a Sylvia Plath phase, and credits it with letting her accept her taste for lighter comedy from writers like Nora Ephron and Louise Rennison.
- During a breakup at 22, the author and her best friend watched Bridesmaids night after night while studying for finals, building a shared lexicon of quotes they still trade — and rewatch — at least once a year.
- Now in her early 30s and planning her own wedding, the author sees the film as a cautionary tale of hen-party overreach (the cookie scene haunted her while co-organising one) and a reassurance that close friendships survive diverging lives.
- Bridesmaids is currently streaming on Peacock in the US and on Disney+ in the UK and Australia.
Why it matters: Bridesmaids grossed $306.5m against mainstream skepticism that a female-driven comedy could succeed, and this essay shows the cultural dividend: 15 years on, the women who first watched it as teenagers have turned it into a shared friendship language — a private canon of quotes deployed at breakups, hen parties and wedding seasons. The Oscars reunion simply gave that audience an occasion to name the attachment publicly.
Ask SkimNews
