Lizzy Caplan Mad About Bridesmaids Effect

Lizzy Caplan in Bachelorette

Lizzy Caplan is a very funny lady. She was funny as Janis Ian in Mean Girls. She was funny as Casey Klein on the cult hit Party Down and as Julia on New Girl. I even found her funny in Cloverfield, which was really not funny. But Lizzy has always known she and her fellow female comedic actresses were funny. This is why she was mad about the whole nation finally realizing women were funny thanks to the massive success of Bridesmaids. “Totally insulting,” she said to The Hollywood Reporter. “Because we comedic actresses knew that we could be funny, even though I guess everybody conveniently forgot that for a few years. But I think Bridesmaids is a totally hilarious movie, and if that’s the one that reminded everyone of the fact, then I couldn’t love it anymore, but maybe that makes me like it slightly even more.”

As I have said many times, Bridesmaids was a game changer for women in the film industry. “For 10 years, people were really afraid that there wasn’t an audience for an R-rated female-centric comedy,” says Bachelorette writer/director Leslye Headland. “(Bridesmaids) proved that there was. I think it will get hundreds of movies made.” Not only did Bridesmaids make $288 million worldwide but it also earned two Oscar nominations. According to Hollywood Reporter writer David Friendly the Bridesmaids effect has resulted in all the major film studios asking “Where’s our Bridesmaids?!”

Last week, The Grindstone interviewed Katie Anne Nylon and Lauren Miller, the writers of For A Good Time Call. The film is about two 20-something female roommates that start a phone sex line out of their apartment. Though it is really a sweet story about female friendship it is set in the context of something very raunchy, so a lot of studios passed. But once Bridesmaids came out, the phone started ringing and now the film is out in theaters. Other writers like Liz Meriwether (New Girl ) Dana Fox (What Happens In Vegas, Couples Retreat), Lorene Scafaria (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and clearly, Miller and Naylon, all benefited from the film.

Another film which was grouped in to that ‘Bridesmaids Effect’ is Caplan’s new film Bachelorette (released in 20 cities tomorrow.) Yes, the film is about a wedding and a group of female friends, but it is no Bridesmaids. A review of the film in The Atlantic said it would be a mistake to even compare the two. The film takes on a much darker twist than Bridesmaids and the drug use in the film is extensive. Also, unlike Kristin Wiig’s character in Bridesmaids, it is hard to be sympathetic with the three female leads, who are really just grown up mean girls.

But the freedom of women in comedic roles is definitely appreciated by Caplan. In an interview at Sundance she said of the film, “When you’re a girl in a movie, you mostly get to say, ‘Now behave, boys.’ In Bachelorette we got to act as bad as the guys do.” She said this whole cinematic movement means better roles for actresses in general. When talking with her actress collegues she says, “”The dinner parties are far more enjoyable since no one is saying, ‘Why do we have to watch boys do everything fun?’ It’s just not like that anymore.”

TheGrindstone

Lizzy Caplan Was Very Mad About The Whole Women Being Funny Discussion