Bridesmaids is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Paul Feig from a screenplay by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, and produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel and Clayton Townsend.

It stars Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy and Chris O'Dowd.

Annie has since lost her passion for baking and now works a stressful, underpaid job at a jewelry store and shares an apartment with obnoxious British immigrant siblings Gil and Brynn.

Annie's suggestion for a bachelorette party at Lillian's parents' lake house is overruled in favor of a Las Vegas trip planned by Helen.

She accepts a sedative and liquor from Helen to alleviate her massive fear of flying, but begins to hallucinate and suffers a paranoid breakdown that culminates in her being apprehended by a U.S. Air Marshal.

Meanwhile, Annie grows closer to Nathan Rhodes, an Irish-American Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper who lets her off without a ticket for broken brake lights.

Helen apologizes to Annie, tearfully revealing that while sought after for her event planning skills, she does not have any true friends and feels unsatisfied in her marriage.

With some begrudging help from Nathan, they find Lillian hiding out in her own apartment, having become overwhelmed by Helen's extravagant wedding planning and afraid of leaving her life in Milwaukee.

The cast features brief appearances by several actors from the television series The Office, including Jessica St. Clair, Nancy Carell, Hugh Dane and Andy Buckley.

[19] Mia Rose Frampton appears briefly as a thirteen-year-old girl who argues with Annie in the jewelry store; the film's Blu-ray release includes an extended, ten minute scene of improvised dialogue between the two.

[21] Over the following years, writing commenced, with Wiig working on Saturday Night Live in New York City and Mumolo grinding out the script in Los Angeles.

"[23] Several actresses auditioned for the role of Megan, including Rebel Wilson and Busy Philipps, the latter of whom had worked with Apatow and Feig on their comedy-drama television series Freaks and Geeks.

[26] Mindy Kaling read for the role of Lillian, eventually losing to Wiig's Saturday Night Live colleague Maya Rudolph.

[33] Additional scenes where Annie meets Officer Rhodes on the highways between Milwaukee and Chicago were filmed in Oxnard, California, which Sage described as a "broad, flat, green area away from mountains.

The site's critical consensus states: "A marriage of genuine characters, gross out gags, and pathos, Bridesmaids is a female-driven comedy that refuses to be boxed in as Kristen Wiig emerges as a real star.

It definitely proves that women are the equal of men in vulgarity, sexual frankness, lust, vulnerability, overdrinking and insecurity ... Love him or not, Judd Apatow is consistently involved with movies that connect with audiences.

"[36] Tamara Winfrey-Harris noted in Ms. that, to her "enduring surprise", despite the involvement of Apatow, and themes that had been "done and done and done", the film passed the Bechdel test of female-driven storylines.

The message that Hollywood should be taking is: A comedy that's raunchy and fearless, and also brilliantly written and shrewdly honest about what's really going on in women's lives, may actually connect with the fabled non-teenage audience (remember them?).

"[40] It was also credited with proving that "women could pull off a good fart joke as well as the next guy, and did what seemed like the impossible: leading an all-female cast to blockbuster success.

Abby Koenig of The Houston Press enjoyed Kristen Wiig's comedic talents, but disliked the frequency of "raunchy jokes" throughout the film, writing that "we need more funny females getting the spotlight.

[42] Karina Longworth of The Village Voice criticised the inconsistency of the film's tone, stating that certain scenes have "a kind of dumb crassness that works against Bridesmaids' often smart, highly class-conscious deconstruction of female friendship and competition.

[44] Bridesmaids surpassed Knocked Up to become the top-grossing Judd Apatow production to date,[45][46] grossing $26,247,410 on its opening weekend and settling for a strong second place behind Thor.

"[74] In an interview with Vanity Fair, director Paul Feig addressed rumors of a sequel, saying "Everyone's very busy right now is one of the problems, and kind of doing their own thing, but we're very open to it.