The Film Experience

Scene: Food Poisoning
Okay, let’s talk poop jokes.

If I’m hesitant it’s not because I’m squeamish, but because I’ve found dissecting jokes to see how they work to be one of life’s less rewarding endeavors. On the other hand, I’ve noticed Bridesmaids’ uproarious food poisoning sequence seldom gets the respect it deserves. Often it’s acknowledged with some glib and subtly condescending remark along the lines of, “Ladies can be just as gross as the boys!” and I think that significantly undersells the scene. I mean, If we absolutely must make sweeping generalizations along gender lines, we would have to conclude Bridesmaids proves ladies do gross-out with infinitely more wit and sophistication than the boys...

Nothing can torpedo a laugh faster than catching the filmmakers nudging the material toward a desired outcome, but writers Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wiig camouflage the ladies’ march to disaster so artfully in Annie’s (Kristin Wiig) escalating competition with Helen (Rose Byrne) that we never notice the fuse being lit for the later payoff. The sketchy meat place Annie takes them to works as a self-contained joke on Annie’s futile attempts to compete with Helen financially. So does the uber-fancy boutique, which also doubles as a dig at the excesses of the Wedding Industrial Complex. It’s such deft misdirection, I would reach up to the top shelf adjectives and pull down “exquisite” to describe the writing, maybe not the first word that comes to mind when you think of a red-faced Melissa McCarthy volcanically shitting into a sink, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em.

Compare that to similar bathroom emergency gags in American Pie and Dumb and Dumber, the setup to both of which features a character holding a bottle a laxative up for the camera and grinning mischievously.

What really elevates the scene from good to classic is that no matter how wild it gets, the ladies’ panic moves remain completely understandable. The logic tracks. When faced with a gastrointestinal system that has rapidly gone to Defcon 1 you can imagine yourself reflexively diving for the toilet bowl regardless of whether it is already occupied by a friend’s head. Even McCarthy’s unforgettable encounter with the sink is the result of the character sizing up her options and picking the least worst. Pooping in a sink might be good for a juvenile chuckle in any context, but crafting a scenario where it’s the responsible thing to do? That’s a thing of beauty.

Considering how far the scene could’ve gone, the actual visible gross-out content is somewhat restrained. You don’t see more than a bit of barf. I imagine few other comedies could have resisted the temptation to go over-the-top and get a big reaction out of the audience. They could have easily had the snooty sales associate open the door to find the tastefully appointed boutique bathroom transformed into the toilet from Trainspotting. The Bridesmaids team understood that the biggest laughs were not in rubbing the audience’s face in bodily functions, but from the ladies’ flailing, desperate attempts to salvage some shred of dignity from this off-the-charts humiliation. Melissa McCarthy commanding “DON’T YOU LOOK AT ME!” like that makes a difference is funnier than anything graphic they could show.

Same goes for Maya Rudolph casually waving traffic around her while she quietly desecrates a designer gown in the middle of a busy road. For my money, the sequence’s biggest laugh is Wiig’s clinging white-knuckled to the idea that it all has nothing to do with her choice of restaurant, even as sweat cascades down her face and she turns the color of a corpse that died two weeks ago from blood loss.

When Wiig and Mumolo thought of weaponizing a bowl of Jordan Almonds I hope they called it quits for the day and opened a bottle of champagne.

The common response to scatological humor from fainting couch occupants and monocle-poppers everywhere is “Was that really necessary?” a question which is, of course, beside the point. A funny scene is its own justification. The real question is “Did you earn that?” People with no sense of humor are fond of making assertions like “Poop jokes are just funny!” but nothing is funny devoid of context. Such types never earn it. For them transgressions against social taboos are a lazy stinkbomb tossed in as a shortcut to the strong emotions they lack the creativity to reach any other way. Bridesmaids earns it.

Previously on Season 2 of "The New Classics"

Follow Michael on Twitter and Letterboxd