This episode’s vocabulary
Bridesmaid
noun — a girl or woman who during the marriage ceremony helps the woman who is getting married.
Hilarious
adj. — extremely funny and causing a lot of laughter.
Undermine
verb — to gradually weaken or destroy someone or something.
Scene
noun — a part of a play or film in which the action stays in one place for a continuous period of time.
Slapstick
noun — a type of humorous acting in which the actors behave in a silly way, such as by throwing things, falling over, etc.
Amuse
verb — to make someone smile or laugh.
Backfire
verb — (of a plan) to have the opposite result from the one you intended.
Visceral
adj. — based on deep feeling and emotional reactions rather than on reason or thought.
Humorous
adj. — funny, or making you laugh.
Overblown
adj. — bigger or more important or impressive than it should be.
Questions and answers
Rory is going to describe a film or a movie that made him laugh. He is going to say what the name of the film is, when he watched it, who he watched it with, and why did it make him laugh. Rory, are you ready, Rory?
Yes.
Ready Rory. Shoot.
Well, I thought that bridesmaids was quite hilarious. And so did my mum, when we went to watch it together This is about must be 10-12 years ago. But we when we did watch it, we enjoyed it for different reasons. It's about this woman whose life is collapsing. While her friendship is being undermined by the arrival of a new friend on the scene. I realize that on the face of it, that doesn't seem very funny. But what I found amusing were the various lengths that she went to to try and keep her friend and keep her life together in general. And there are a lot of slapstick elements, like when all of the women in the group of friends go to a dress fitting, and they get food poisoning and how they react to that. And there's lots of carefully targeted swearing as well. Another part of the movie is quite, that's quite funny for me is when she has basically a nervous breakdown. And she attacks this giant cookie, and just starts like tearing into it. And she tries to throw it but it lands on top of her. And it's just really funny because everything that she does just backfires on her. But it's also it's quite sad, of course, because she's losing her friend. But I should point out that there's a happy ending to all of this. That's just for me though, as it turns out, the film speaks to different people on different levels. So while I liked the more visceral elements, my mum liked the representation of female relationships a lot more, or at least their humorous representation. I remember when we left the cinema, she said, you won't quite get it right now. But this is how women sometimes speak to each other. And it's funny because it's an overblown reflection of how we are with each other. I agreed. I didn't know what she meant at the time. But I went back to watch it with some friends later, and I watched for these things. And then I got it as well, so I could enjoy it twice as much as I did previously.
What about your friends? Do they enjoy this film?
My friends love this film. It's amazing.
Thank you, Rory. That was lovely. -