Remember how critics described Bridesmaids as a game-changing, female-centric, raunchy manifesto of a woman’s right to behave badly on screen? While I truly enjoyed how Bridesmaids featured women with flaws greater than a propensity for falling down, the film was still relatively tame and—outside of the poop, anal bleaching, and penis impersonations—a classic romantic comedy with a happy ending that even included the standard cute Irish fellow. None of the women behaved that badly or produced meltdowns that approximated normal female behavior. Don’t get me wrong: I really liked Bridesmaids, and I realize it was never meant to be a dark film. But critics acted as though it was an accurate depiction of girls gone bad. Twenty minutes into a viewing of Bachelorette and I began to think, “ah … so this is the film critics imagined when they were watching Bridesmaids.” Not only is writer/director Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette decidedly darker but it is also a much more poignant look at female self-destruction.
Although I’m not a massive bitch and barely drink, I get the girls of Bachelorette—self-absorbed, troubled women on the cusp of 30, who characterize men using the classic Krakow/Catalano taxonomy and treat their bodies either with complete disregard or like unruly children in need of strict discipline. Most of the titular bachelorettes can’t quite transition into adulthood (i.e., your classic Apatovian fault), but they also exhibit more specifically female flaws: they use sex for validation, talk about their friends behind their backs, and, most significantly, despise their own bodies. In short, they behave like a lot of women I know. Continue reading “Cruel Intentions”