I didn't get a chance to see "Bridesmaids" in advance, but caught it over the weekend at the iPic at Bayshore.
And while I'd heard beforehand that there were some street scenes shot in Milwaukee, I wasn't prepared for both the look and the feel of the city presented in the weekend's second biggest movie ("Thor" remains in first).
First off, the opening credits features the city's skyline and its now signature Milwaukee Art Museum. It certainly looked like a place I'd like to visit.
More importantly, although the cast didn't shoot their scenes here, Kristen Wiig's "Annie" is a Milwaukeean who's not a stereotype. Although her life isn't going well – her upscale bakery has flopped, childhood pal Maya Rudolph is heading to Chicago to get married and she's floundering – Annie's no a cheesehead. Her problems are complex and human, and not comic book creations.
Then there's the sweet (ultimately) relationship between Annie and the Wisconsin State Trooper who pulls her over because her tail-lights are out. Played by Chris O'Dowd, he has an inexplicable Irish brogue that's the subject of a couple jokes.
I like it when there's a quirky little bit of business like the accent that's left unexplained. Why can't a State Trooper have been born in Ireland?
None of the Milwaukee stuff will make a conscious impact on most movie-goers who are going for the over-the-top laughs. The humor is as crude as anything that Judd Apatow's name is attached to (he's listed as a producer in this one).
But we can always hope for a little subconscious recognition out there.
In the meantime, the movie's more than just the gross bathroom and sex jokes that you see in the trailers. It's broad comedy, but Wiig's performance makes it much more. She's not just the collection of bits that make up her "Saturday Night Live" persona. She's actually an actress. And despite the unsubtle humor around, there's a subtlety to her performance.
In other words, it's worth seeing for more than the Milwaukee scenery.
Here's a trailer for "Bridesmaids," which, sadly, doesn't include those great Milwaukee scenes, especially in the opening credits.
On TV: After 45 years, Jerry Lewis says this September's "MDA Telethon" will be his last. The 85-year-old comic will perform "You'll Never Walk Alone," and then walk off, remaining national MDA chairman.
- In case you're planning to watch it, Katie Couric's anchors her final "CBS Evening News" at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on Channel 58.
- Even though Fox canceled "Breaking In" last week, the Christian Slater comedy isn't quite dead and there are efforts at the network to revive it in the new season.
- Speaking of Fox, it's cutting back "America's Most Wanted" to airing as a special once every three months starting this fall.
Yeah, real big surprise: The good news is that Donald Trump won't be running for president. The bad new is that "The Apprentice" will be back next season.
Here's the video of his unsurprising announcement from NBC's annual presentation of its new fall lineup to advertisers:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
