BRIDESMAIDS

It's been pushed out there and touted as a female version of The Hangover - a comedy to show that girls can have as much fun as guys.

And to an extent, it does this. However, this is full of females and, therefore, the special bond between friends is more Beaches than Bachelor Party. Now, as the trailer contests, it has scenes of gross-out humour that are more than enough to make you put your hand over your mouth and gasp out loud at them. The food poisoning scene during the dress fitting is truly up there but not for the illegal use of the shop's bathroom sink ("don't look at me!") but for the simple yet beautiful delivery of "I sh*t in the middle of the street..."

If you go in expecting a slew of this kind of humour then you will be disappointed. Bridesmaids is more in the vein of the buddy movies where the two best friends have some event that threatens to tear them apart - Superbad, Harold & Kumar - that they must overcome, but only at the end of alot of shenanigans until the movies end credits roll.

What it does have going for it is its various types of laughter. Gross has already been mentioned but just as good, if not funnier, is its cringe type - engagement party speeches where the rival friends won't give up the mic to the other - and, since the success of The Hangover it would seem, the now obligatory "large" friend who's honesty causes embarrassed laughter. The female version of Alan gets all the sexual jokes, the best being during the end credits so don't leave your seat straight away.

More buddy-chick-flick than gross-out, it actually is all the better for it. The love aspect is sweet but eyebrow raising - Irish comedian O'Dowd is charming but him being a cop is never really explained nor mined enough for more laughs - and the ensemble, if slightly under developed in some cases, at least bring a range of different gags to the table.

A decent comedy that surprisingly doesn't have the lads in it. Roll on the revolution!

UK release date: 22.06.11

Certificate: 15