Men Behaving Badly

About a week ago I had someone tell me they were going to see "Bridesmaids" and ask what I thought. I said I thought it was good (I gave it Three Stars in the review) and asked if they had seen/liked "The Hangover." They said yes, so I assumed it would be the same with "Bridesmaids."

Turned out it wasn't. That made me wonder why. I started to wonder if maybe it wasn't the reversal of the gender roles.

For a long time, comedies featuring men behaving badly have been a staple genre. "The Hangover" might be the most famous recent example, but it was hardly the first or only. "Wedding Crashers" followed a similar model, Kevin Smith's films often feature a similar model, and way back in the 1970s and 1980s we had films like "Animal House" and "Porky's."

"Bridesmaids" was marketed as the female equivalent of "The Hangover." For all intents and purposes, that's a pretty apt description. The biggest difference between the two is the gender of the protagonists. But somehow, that ends up being a turn off for some viewers.

So I can't help but wonder if we've hit upon a sort of cinematic double-standard. Do viewers just accept that men are prone to act like juvenile delinquents at times? If so, that seems kind of sad.

But maybe this is just a case of comedy — perhaps the most subjective of cinematic genres — is truly in the eye of the beholder.

Comments

  1. JendolphinMay 28, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    It is more readily accepted in movies that men will behave badly and that's the norm. I think women are expected to be well..women. Look cute, be cute, and make Miss Manners happy but the truth is today's women are a lot like the Bridesmaids cast at times.

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