Insider of the Month | Yolanda Crous

Posted: September 30, 2011

A Brides editor (and frequent maid of
honor) on why the female-driven hit
comedy Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig,
is equal parts hilarious and heartfelt.
Interview conducted and condensed By CRAIGH BARBOZA

Yolanda Crous, who provides her commentary on Bridesmaids in this month’s column, is no stranger to weddings. The amiable New Yorker has worked for seven years at Brides magazine, where she oversees features on bouquets, favors and nuptial trends as the Senior Articles Editor. By her own estimate, she has gone to 30-some weddings. “I’ve been a bridesmaid many, many times,” says Crous, who is single. Does she have any stories about bridesmaids-gone-wild? “Definitely, I’ve heard of bridesmaids cutting the hem of their dress to such an extent that they might as well be showgirls on a Las Vegas stage. There have been bridesmaids who sleep with the groom — never good — and ones who just can’t be happy for the bride.

“Then there’s what happens in the movie: a bunch of bridesmaids from different parts of the bride’s life who are all kind of jockeying for supreme position in the bridal-party pack. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.”

When we asked Crous, who’s a fan of producer Judd Apatow (Pineapple Express, Superbad), to watch the new Bridesmaids DVD and talk with us about it she jumped at the opportunity. The R-rated comedy stars Kristen Wiig (also a co-writer) as a 30-something Milwaukeean named Annie whose life spirals out of control in ever increasingly funny ways after her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), asks her to be the maid of honor in her wedding. A baker who recently lost her shop in the recession, Annie insists more than once that she’s hit rock bottom. No matter what she does, she can’t seem to get anything right while leading a motley crew of bridesmaids, which includes Lillian’s new pal, the rich and beautiful Helen (Rose Byrne), who is threatening to replace Annie.

Yolanda Crous, photo by Luigi Menduni

“I loved Bridesmaids. It is so incredibly funny. Yet there’s a lot of heart to it as well,” marvels Crous. “It captures this thing that happens with weddings. I think weddings bring up a lot of issues for people. If someone close to you is getting married, as we see with Annie, a wedding can make you re-evaluate your life. Often, you compare yourself with the person getting married, or other people in the wedding party; maybe you’re not in the same economic situation as them or you don’t have the same relationship status. Weddings can definitely provoke an existential crisis for some people.” [She laughs.]

YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL “This film works because of the friendship between Annie and Lillian that’s at the center of the story. You can feel the emotion of these two women, and you get a sense of their history together in an early scene at a café. When we first meet them, Lillian is worried that her boyfriend is going to break up with her and Annie is sleeping with a total louse, her frenemy with benefits who’s always putting his junk near her face. [She laughs.] Annie’s penis imitation is pure genius.

“These women know how to make each other laugh, and they shorthand stuff. There’s a lot of common ground. Then, a few scenes later, we move to Lillian’s house where Annie finds out that her BFF is engaged and that rhythm that we felt earlier is suddenly disrupted; it’s like a record scratching. Annie, who immediately starts sweating when she sees Lillian’s engagement ring, is obviously trying her best to be supportive and happy for her friend but she’s also having a panic attack!

“There’s this great little moment after Annie accepts the maid of honor duties. The girls are in mid-celebration when Lillian’s fiancé calls. Lillian takes the phone and walks to the side of the room and we see Annie look over at her, still laughing from their talk but also weeping now at the same time. It’s obvious that Annie’s already begun to mourn their friendship as it is, because no matter what your intention, marriage changes things. It changes a woman’s relationship with the groom and it changes her relationship with her friends. It doesn’t mean their friendship is over but it will definitely shift. And from Annie’s reaction, she knows what’s coming.”

IS THAT YOUR HUSBAND? “A few scenes later, we’re at Lillian’s engagement party, where Annie is introduced to the other bridesmaids. She doesn’t notice but on more than one occasion Annie winds up standing next to a creepy-looking dude who is mistaken for her date. It’s a clever visual gag, which underscores that anxiety I think many single people have when they go to weddings. Most of the women in Lillian’s bridal party have husbands so it’s almost a given in their mind that Annie must be married too, and they immediately assume any man next to Annie, no matter how crazy he looks, must be her husband.

“The other thing that’s interesting here is that the groom is almost entirely absent from the room, as are Lillian’s parents, minus her father every once in a while saying, ‘This wedding is costing me too much.’ I think that the filmmakers did that on purpose. Bridesmaids [which was directed by Paul Feig] concentrates on female friendship, after all. But turning the groom into a marginal character seems to be a trend in a lot of wedding-themed movies. In real life, the groom is always going to be and should be a huge part of the wedding. Weddings are about two people, not just the bride.”

SHITTIN’ IN THE STREET “Like all Judd Apatow movies, Bridesmaids has its raunchy parts and one of the most talked about scenes from this one involves a nasty case of food poisoning and a fancy bridal shop. After very innocently taking the ladies out for some cheap Brazilian food, Annie thinks she can simply ring the bridal shop’s buzzer and walk in. For
these kinds of places you need to make an appointment well in advance. So they’re turned away, of course — until Helen uses her connections to get them in.

“Inside, everyone gravitates toward these expensive dresses Annie can’t afford. Annie tries to get them to look at a chic little dress that’s less pricey, but to no avail. That can be an issue for bridesmaids. Brides often get swept up in the moment and don’t think about what their individual bridesmaids can and can’t afford.

“The girls pick out some pretty dresses and are out on the floor, seeing how they look, when all of a sudden everyone feels sick to their stomachs. It turns out they have food poisoning and a few of the girls rush into the bathroom, fluids flying, for what may be the grossest scene ever filmed for a chick flick. You have to wonder if this scene is why the movie got such great ratings from men!

“Obviously, that kind of humor appeals to women as well. I thought it was pretty hilarious. Besides, Bridesmaids is so smart that I think even the most squeamish viewer can forgive the film for a momentary lapse into the lowbrow. [She laughs.] And, you know, if it gets the guys to come out on date night or watch a female-oriented movie then why not?

“Remember that ridiculous nonsense Christopher Hitchens started, ‘women can’t be funny’? In 2007, he wrote a story in Vanity Fair, where he basically said that women lack the proper motivation to be funny. So there was all this hype before Bridesmaids came out in theaters, you know, ‘can a woman really carry an R-rated comedy?’ And women came out in droves. Bridesmaids grossed close to $300 million.”

DON’T EVEN COME TO MY WEDDING “Kristen Wiig does an amazing job in this movie. There’s a lot of physical comedy that she nails but she also lets you in, during those quieter moments, so that you care about what’s happening to her.

“Most of it isn’t good. Things have just gone from bad to worse to horrible for Annie when, at her most vulnerable, she arrives at Lillian’s Parisian-themed bridal shower that is so over-the-top it’s ridiculous. [She laughs.] After Annie ruins the bachelorette trip to Vegas, Lillian asked Helen to host the shower instead. Almost immediately, we know Helen has stolen the theme idea from Annie. It was Annie who told Helen and the other bridesmaids that Lillian had always wanted to go to Paris. She suggested making cookies with the couple’s names on them. And then Annie walks into Helen’s backyard, which is outfitted with a miniature Eiffel Tower, a seven-foot-tall chocolate fountain and a giant French cookie with the names of the bride and groom. To make matters worse, when they open presents Annie gives Lillian a very heartfelt box of memories, but Helen gives her tickets to Paris!

“Well, that’s it. Annie goes crazy and starts attacking the decorations; she takes a knife and stabs the Eiffel Tower, goes after the mega-cookie, tries to tip the
chocolate fountain. It’s completely insane and Lillian and Annie have this knock-down-drag-out fight, which ends in Annie being kicked out of the wedding — which happens more than you’d think. We’ve definitely heard from brides who’ve fired their maid of honor!

“Poor Annie. She ends up leaving without a puppy favor. That may have been my favorite detail in the whole movie. Here’s a tip, people: never give your guests live favors.

“I think the thing that’s really different about this movie is it feels real. It’s about a real phase of life that women go through. Most women are going to be the bridesmaid, and a lot of what happens is totally crazy and funny. At least in hindsight.” ⏏
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Craigh Barboza, the Editor of My DVD Insider, has covered entertainment and culture for major national publications such as Uptown, Vibe, Entertainment Weekly, USA Weekend and The New York Times. He is currently on staff at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.