Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo reteam for a likable but throwaway
comedy about two best
Friends going on vacation
The staggering success of 2011’s Bridesmaids – almost $300m globally, two Oscar nominations, a belated industry realisation that uh yeah
Women can do mass market comedies too – had an unlikely effect on its breakout star, and co-writer, Kristen Wiig. While
Saturday Night Live viewers already cherished her as the show’s hit-after-hit MVP, global audiences were now too let in on the joke and most of us waited impatiently to see what she would do next, perhaps expecting more of the same. But unlike the more obvious scene-stealer of the film, Melissa McCarthy, Wiig chose not to pursue a career headlining studio comedies, sticking mostly to the outskirts, choosing Sundance over
Hollywood (she repeatedly turned down the offer to do a Bridesmaids sequel). There were muted successes (The Skeleton Twins, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) but more often disappointments (Welcome to Me, Girl Most Likely, Hateship Loveship, Revenge for Jolly) and her brief head-around-the-door appearances in bigger movies (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Zoolander 2, Ghostbusters, Anchorman 2, Downsizing, Wonder Woman 1984) didn’t quite scratch the itch that had now been niggling Bridesmaids, and
SNL, fans for almost a decade.
Related: The Map of Tiny Perfect Things review – charming time loop romcom