This weekend, I was able to take in two movies. The wide release, raucous, R-rated comedy "Bridesmaids" and the introspective, indie character study "Everything Must Go". I definitely didn't think they'd have much in common going in, but I was surprised. Each movie features a long, hard look at the main character as they endure hardship after hardship. They both take similar paths to rock bottom, and then must deal with rebounding. They also both feature stellar lead performances from Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell, two of the best-known SNL alum from the past ten years or so.
Wiig's Annie muses throughout the movie on if she's hit 'rock bottom' or not. Ferrell's Nick doesn't really need to. He knows what rock bottom is, and you get the impression he's been there before. Nick spends a lot of time alone. Ferrell does a tremendous job in conveying Nick's pain and desperation in these silent scenes. Despite his life and problems being dumped onto his front lawn for all the neighbors to see, he is utterly alone. Most of Annie's bumps on the road to the bottom occur in public: a fancy dress shop, an airplane, a bridal shower among others. They are all very well-done comedic set pieces, but there is definitely an underlying sadness. Wiig conveys her exasperation at her screwups in many scenes with her friends, old and new.
Both main characters are able to make a friend and connect deeply with someone while their lives fall apart. Annie and Nick both allow these outsiders to get close, only to push them away when they are both at their lowest. At the height of their self-loathing, both characters burn a lifeline trying to help them get out of their downward spiral. It's obvious both characters are extremely depressed, but this self-destructive behavior from both really is a prime example of their rock bottom. Annie immediately leaves a rambling message wondering why she's so stupid, continuing her trend of externalizing and talking through all her problems. Nick is left alone again after alienating his new neighbor, and goes on a humiliating bender, even for his 'standards'.
The new friends Nick and Annie make aren't their only lifelines, however. Each character finds joy in their previous life. Nick was a successful Vice President of sales, and Annie owned a bakery before the first frame of each movie. We never see them in these roles however. Annie's bakery is long gone, and Nick is fired in the first five minutes of the movie. As they go toward rock bottom, however, both are able to get some satisfaction and self-worth out of their skills. Part of each's redemption is even tied to what they used to do. For his faux-yard sale, Nick hires a kid from the neighborhood to help sell things and watch the lawn when he's away. He is able to impart many of his rules of sales on the kid, much like his old job in training new salesmen for the company. Later, as Nick sees the kid taking initiative and making great sales at the yard sale's busy final weekend day, his sense of pride and accomplishment is almost palpable. It's able to show him that he still is good at what he does, and reaffirms his self worth. Annie turns back to her baking right after finding out about her friend's pending nuptials. Although still, after her meticulous work on a gorgeous cupcake, she sinks into it, and immediately feels shame, and her excitement and happiness in doing what she loves is fleeting. The movie progresses, things get worse of course, and Annie's first step out of rock bottom is creating an elaborate apology cake. Both endings are very deft at not spelling out exactly where the characters are going with their upward momentum. But each are able to partly find the strength to like themselves again through their talents in sales and baking, respectively.
As in any good redemption story, both movies also feature the lead characters facing temptation to return to the destructive behavior that doomed them in the first place. I haven't commented much about Nick's alcoholism, but it is the driving force behind most all of his troubles. It's very painful to watch him drink, even only knowing the bullet points of his history of alcohol abuse from his firing in the opening scene. Throughout the movie, Nick drinks and drinks, and it is incredibly awkward and painful to watch. Annie has a less-serious addiction to her hilariously vain fuck-buddy. Despite his handsomeness, he makes her feel horrible in many different ways with his abusive behavior. She takes it in stride mostly because she doesn't have the strength to tell him off. As both characters hit bottom and begin to piece their lives back together and move forward, they both literally come face to face with these two destructive forces. After the newly, struggling to be sober Nick has a terse conversation with the younger man who fired him, his former boss leaves a full beer right under Nick's nose in the bathroom. When Annie's car breaks down, one of the last things functional in her life, the arrogant fuck buddy is the only person left to pick her up. Nick and Annie have very similar triumphs to these temptations really cement their newfound strength, and resolve to come back from their lowest points.
Each movie is able to install a sense of hope for each main character's ending. We never hear that Nick would be sober until the day he died or that Annie opened up a successful bakery again. They both managed to survive the onslaught thrown at them for the hour and a half of screentime, and came out the other side a better, stronger person.
It was interesting to see the two similar stories handled so differently. Annie's journey goes along through the landmines of a very hilarious and vulgar comedy. It still manages to be a thoughtful movie about dealing with being a single woman in her 30s watching all her friends get married. Nick's redemption is from much more serious missteps and alcoholism that destroyed his relationships, professional and personal. It manages to successfully mix in some wry humor with the central melancholy of a man losing everything in a short period of time. In the end, these two movies were able to hang very different stories onto the same basic story structure. Each one worked in its own way to be a very entertaining movie.
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