Photo: Universal Pictures
Universal exploring the idea of a sequel to this summer's Bridesmaids is no surprise. The movie made money and they want more and after seeing the success of The Hangover Part II this summer, despite how bad it was, the Uni execs are seeing dollar signs.
The fact they're doing it without the involvement of star and co-writer Kristen Wiig isn't shocking either, this is Hollywood after all. You see, Wiig is balking at the idea, but of course, there is always the potential of centering the next film around Melissa McCarthy's character, after all wasn't she last seen eating cured meats off the chest of Air Marshall Jon (Ben Falcone)?
What I do find humorous, however, is the quote from producer Judd Apatow who tells The Hollywood Reporter, "The key is we have to come up with an idea that is as good or better than the first one... We don't want to do it unless it can be great. I don't think anyone has had the brain space to think about it yet. Hopefully that can begin this year."
First off, let's look beyond the "We don't want to do it unless it can be great" portion of the quote because he may as well continue the statement saying, "The sky is blue, fire is hot and humans need oxygen." What's that Judd? You don't want to make the movie unless it can be great? Whew, thank God. I wouldn't want you to move forward on another project like Drillbit Taylor or Year One. You know, those projects you moved forward on presumably knowing they were shit. Moving on...
Nah, what gets me is the first part. The part where he says, "The key is we have to come up with an idea that is as good or better than the first one." If I may, the "idea" has nothing to do with it. Bridesmaids wasn't funny because of the "idea", it was funny because Maya Rudolph took a crap in the street in her wedding dress, Wiig's bedroom romps with John Hamm and that truly awkward toast. People enjoyed it for the tongue-in-cheek Wilson Phillips moments and the friendship between Rudolph and Wiig. Oh, and of course, Melissa McCarthy. At least that's my read...
The "idea" was to have a bunch of bridesmaids with various personality quirks (essentially, the title), the quality was in the writing and the performances. I'd actually go as far as to say the "idea" actually got in the way of it being a truly great comedy at times. There were points in that film where enough was enough and they just kept going until Wiig's character was essentially on life support and you wanted to run in a resuscitate her back into coherence after so many bad things happened to her.
As far as this Bridesmaids 2 business, a Universal rep told The Hollywood Reporter, "We are over the moon with the success of Bridesmaids, and if we do a sequel we want to get it right (Oh do you now?)... We are talking to filmmakers now about concepts, and if the right one emerges, we'll move forward."
Talent details are nil, though a source tells THR they don't believe Apatow would proceed without the full participation of Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who co-wrote the first film with Wiig. Wiig, however, has backed off the idea and is pursuing other opportunities such as the indie comedy Imogene with Annette Bening and an upcoming drama directed by Sean Penn called The Comedian co-starring Robert De Niro.
Personally, I think it's quite clear a Bridesmaids sequel would be a forced project, much like The Hangover Part II or the just announced plans for Horrible Bosses 2.
It seems to me Wiig is making the right call in sticking to her guns and continuing to explore the options available to her, much like Tina Fey did after her success writing Mean Girls. We need more people to do the same and push the sequel aside, particularly when its very existence is due to the success of the first film, and explore other avenues and stories.
I mean, what could possible be next for Wiig's character? Will Annie marry Nathan (Chris O'Dowd) and have their own wacky lead up to their wedding? Or perhaps they'll get married and plan a big honeymoon to the Bahamas, but on the way Annie gets all loopy on the plane flight again and the plane has to make an emergency landing just outside of some hick town at which point madcap hilarity ensues as Annie and Nathan road trip it back to Milwaukee.
Oh, even better, they could hold a double wedding with Megan (McCarthy) and Air Marshall Jon and all sorts of things could go wrong. Ugh, who really wants to see any of this?
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i think you could sell those ideas brad, exactly what their probly looking for
I hope they don't do a sequel. Look at the Hangover 2. awful. (I didn't like the first one anyway) but as much as I loved these characters and would love to see more them, it's not worth it.
I actually would have no problem with Annie having her own wedding. It would be karmic irony that her best friend starts to destroy her wedding just like she did years before.
I could see a bridesmaids sequel with wiig getting married 2 the cop, but what kinda story would b behind it?
Fat one gets hitched or something, i do't now, i couldn't really care, considering i didn't like the film.
Didn't Jon Hamm state Wiig wasn't interested in a sequel?
I hope they don't do a sequel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I did not like Bridesmaids. I found it cliched and irritating. I love Wiig, but I hope she does other things and leaves this behind.
No
No, the first one was a classic and one of the funniest movies i've seen in my life. Just like Superbad, they should leave it alone. I always loved Kristen Wiig, she should move on and keep doing what she doing right now, that is get more leading roles.
I dunno, EW interviewed the actresses when the DVD dropped and Wendi McClendon-Covey had some flat out hilarious ideas, as did Kristen Wiig (all were thankfully unrelated to weddings). And that was just off the cuff talking. I'm sure the gals could come up with something awesome.
To be fair, considering the financial success of Bridesmaids I cannot see how they cannot make a sequel, with Wiig or not. It's kind of irrelevant financial wise whether she is in it, they have built a vehicle now that doesn't require her becuase they can sell it off the other characters they have built.
As for the storyline - the one with one of the other bridesmaids getting married is the most obvious one and I can see this happening and being a very similar movie to the first one just like the Hangover 2 was. But like you mentioned, does the storyline really matter when it all did was get in the way of the comedy?
I know they could have Kristen Wiigs character ger married in this one, but in Bangkok!!! And just have more crazy problems but still similar outcomes to the first film!
BRIDESMAIDS wasn't a good film. It was merely a series of comedy sketches strung together with mixed results.
American mainstream comedy mostly fails to make me laugh. Though BRIDESMAIDS was a pretty big hit here in the UK too, US comedy is a genre that is more geared towards American consumption. (I'm a sucker for African-American comedy but even that's in short supply nowadays.)
To be honest, I'm sure Universal will dangle all sorts of numbers under Wiig's nose till she cracks and signs on.