Bridesmaids(2011)

Name: Bridesmaids
Director: Paul Feig
Genre: Comedy
Released: May 13, 2011
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Terry Crews, Tom Yi

Universal Pictures

R
Rated R for some strong sexuality, and language throughout
2h 5m
- Comedy

Release Date: May 13, 2011 | Wide

89%
76%
B+
6.8

Competition between the maid of honor and a bridesmaid, over who is the bride's best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef.

Releases

Original Release | May 13, 2011

Re-Release 2026 (Independent) | Apr 10, 2026

15th Anniversary (Independent) | Apr 17, 2026

View Advanced Data Watch on

Box Office Results

Updated as of May 31, 2026 11:18 AM ET

All Releases (3)
Total US & Canada:
$169,525,235
Total International
$119,635,696
Total Worldwide:
$289,160,931

Total US & Canada:
$169,106,725
Total International
$119,635,696
Total Worldwide:
$288,742,421

Current Showtimes

orround

Mon Jun 1
Tue Jun 2
Wed Jun 3
Thu Jun 4
Fri Jun 5
Sat Jun 6
Sun Jun 7

Director & Top Cast

Paul Feig
Director

Kristen Wiig
Annie

Maya Rudolph
Lillian

Rose Byrne
Helen

Terry Crews
Boot Camp Instructor

Tom Yi
Jewelry Store Couple

Elaine Kao

Jewelry Store Couple

Michael Hitchcock

Don Cholodecki

Kali Hawk

Kahlua

Joe Nunez

Oscar the Security Guard

Rebel Wilson

Brynn

Matt Lucas

Gil

Jill Clayburgh

Annie's Mom

Wendi McLendon-Covey

Rita

Ellie Kemper

Becca

Greg Tuculescu

Kevin

Steve Bannos

Annie's Mistaken Husband

Melissa McCarthy

Megan

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,Datasat,SDDS

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Thai,Spanish,French

Summaries

Plot Summary

Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig) is a single woman in her mid-30s, living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After her bakery, Cake Baby, failed, she lost her boyfriend and her savings and now works in a jewelry store. Although her flaky artist mother (Jill Clayburgh) encourages her to return home, Annie shares an apartment with British immigrant Gil (Matt Lucas) and his long-visiting sister, Brynn (Rebel Wilson), who doesn't pay rent and reads Annie's journal. She has a no-strings-attached sexual relationship with the self-absorbed Ted (Jon Hamm) but hopes for something more.Annie's best friend, Lillian Donovan (Maya Rudolph), becomes engaged to a wealthy banker living in Chicago and asks Annie to be her maid of honor. At the engagement party, Annie meets her fellow bridesmaids: Lillian's cynical cousin Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey); idealistic friend Becca (Ellie Kemper); raunchy future sister-in-law Megan (Melissa McCarthy); and Helen Harris III (Rose Byrne), the beautiful but over-the-top wife of Lillian's fiance's boss. Helen and Annie, each jealous of the other's friendship with Lillian, take an instant dislike to each other, but Lillian persuades them to spend time together. Playing opposite each other in a game of doubles tennis, Annie and Helen deliberately hit each other with their volleys multiple times and scream at their partners if they make a mistake as they are trying to impress the other.A few days later, Annie takes Lillian and the bridesmaids to a Brazilian steak restaurant for lunch before going to a chic bridal shop. While Lillian is in the restroom, Annie suggests a Paris-themed bridal shower, but Helen disparages the idea. At the bridal shop, Helen again uses her influence to gain access because Annie did not realize that reservations were needed. Then everyone except Helen (who did not eat the meat at the restaurant) becomes ill with food poisoning. While everyone else becomes ill, Helen orders for everyone the bridesmaid dresses she liked best thus continuing to show-off and impress.Worried about her finances, Annie suggests a hens party at Lillian's parents' beach house. Helen overrules her and books a trip to Las Vegas. Out of pride, Annie refuses to allow Helen to buy her a first-class ticket and sits in coach. While Annie was in the coach, she was sitting next to someone equally afraid of flying. Because Annie is afraid to fly, Helen gives her sedatives and alcohol. This makes Annie inebriated and paranoid, and her outbursts cause the plane to land in Casper, Wyoming, where she, Lillian and the bridesmaids are escorted off the plane; the hens party is canceled. On the bus back to Milwaukee, Annie tries to apologize but Lillian tells Annie she wants Helen to take over planning the shower and wedding.Annie continues to hope for a relationship with Ted, but begins flirting with Officer Nathan Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd), a friendly traffic cop who earlier had let her off without a ticket for broken taillights. Nathan encourages her to open a new bakery, but Annie refuses; her business's failure was so painful that she has given up baking entirely. After the two of them spend the night together, Nathan buys baking supplies with which he suggests Annie make them breakfast. Offended, Annie leaves. Annie is fired from her job for calling a rude teenage customer a "little c**t" and after not being able to pay rent, Gil and Brynn tell her she has to move out. She moves in with her mother.Annie travels back to Chicago for the bridal shower at Helen's house. Helen has created an elaborate version of Annie's Parisian theme, then upstages Annie's heartfelt, handmade shower gift by giving Lillian a trip to Paris to be fitted for her wedding gown by one of the world's top designers. Enraged that Helen has taken credit for the Parisian theme, Annie throws a temper tantrum and is kicked out of the shower. Lillian tells her not to come to the wedding either. On the way home, Annie's car gets hit after she almost hits a porcupine, and the driver quickly leaves. Nathan answers the emergency call and tells Annie how much she hurt him and not to contact him again. Ted comes to pick Annie up but, when he asks her to perform oral sex on him on the way home, she breaks off the relationship and walks home.Over the next several days, Annie becomes reclusive, refusing to leave her mother's house and watching television obsessively. Megan finds her and tells her to stop feeling sorry for herself by revealing to her how she overcame bullying due to her weight and became a high security government employee (she knows the locations of nuclear weapons). Annie realizes her errors and tries to make amends with Nathan by baking him a cake. But he leaves it on his doorstep for raccoon to eat.On the day of the wedding, which Annie doesn't intend to attend, Helen appears on her doorstep, begging for help in finding Lillian, who has gone missing. Helen tearfully explains how lonely she feels and apologizes for all she has done to hurt Annie out of jealousy. They pull up alongside Nathan in his police car and, after some persuasion via intended reckless and crazy driving, he grudgingly helps Annie and Helen find Lillian, who is at her own apartment. Lillian had gone there distressed by Helen's wedding micromanagement and her fear that Annie will have no one to be with. Annie tells her everything will be fine and helps her get ready for the wedding.Annie resumes her place as maid of honor at the wedding, which Helen has arranged to include neon signs, fireworks and an appearance by Wilson Phillips. After the wedding, Helen again apologizes to Annie and hopes they can be friends in the future. Realizing that Annie and Nathan were falling in love, Helen arranged for him to pick Annie up after the wedding. They leave in his squad car, lights flashing and siren wailing. In a post-credits scene, Megan is recording a sex tape with an air marshal she met on the plane to Vegas, and she feeds him a submarine sandwich while talking dirty.

Storyline

Annie (Kristen Wiig), is a maid of honor whose life unravels as she leads her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) and a group of colorful bridesmaids (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper) on a wild ride down the path to matrimony. Annie's life is a mess, but when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far a true friend will go for a friend. — Anonymous Annie is hitting bottom: in Milwaukee, her bakery is shuttered, her boyfriend gone, her flatmates hideous, and she puts up with Ted, an uncaring occasional sex partner. But she has Lillian, her best friend since childhood. When Lillian gets engaged, she asks Annie to be her maid of honor and introduces her to the four bridesmaids, an eclectic group that includes Helen, Lillian's wealthy and beautiful new friend. Helen instantly gets under Annie's skin, and competition for Lillian's affection and confidence ensues. Helen undercuts Annie's ideas, and Annie is soon out of control. Even Rhodes, a friendly attentive cop, can't calm her. Will Annie lose Lillian's friendship and more? — In Milwaukee, thirtysomething Annie Walker's life is falling apart. Despite her baking acumen, her retail cake store, Cake Baby, failed leaving her finances in rough shape. By strings pulled by her mother, she now works in a low-paying job as a jewelry-store clerk, which she hates. She is forced to share an apartment with socially-inept siblings Gil and Brynn, who don't respect her personal boundaries. And she is in a dysfunctional relationship with misogynistic Ted, who treats her solely as a third-string sex partner whenever it suits his mood. The only bright light in her life is that her BFF Lillian has announced that she's getting married to her boyfriend Doug and asked Annie to be her maid of honor. At the engagement party, Annie meets the other bridesmaids for the first time: Lillian's marriage-cynical cousin Rita, Lillian's idealistic newlywed friend Becca, Doug's brash sister Megan, and Doug's boss' seemingly-perfect and wealthy wife Helen. Immediately, Annie and Helen are in open competition not only to organize Lillian's bridal festivities, but to be Lillian's BFF. As Annie seems to be losing the competition at every turn, another bright light enters her life in the form of police officer Nathan Rhodes, although she tries to hold him off because of the other failures in her life. Officer Rhodes might only be able to take so much before giving up on Annie. As Annie seems to be losing Lillian's friendship to perfect Helen, only truly understanding what each wants will bring all the parties closer together. — Huggo Annie is unlucky in love, but when her best friend Lillian gets engaged and asks her to be her maid of honor, she's thrilled. At the engagement party, though, she realizes she has a rival: who also claims Lillian as her BFF. She is also rich, attractive, articulate, and comfortable as the center of attention. Everything Annie touches goes wrong. She arranges for the bridesmaids' lunch at a restaurant in a seedy part of town and everyone--except Helen, who ate a salad--gets food poisoning. She then takes them all to a posh dress shop only to find she needed to make a reservation way ahead of time--but Helen, of course, knows the manager and with her intervention they're whisked right in. It gets to the point where everyone is stressed to the limit and Annie and Lillian have a falling-out that lands all the plans in doubt. — garykmcd 1 more All

Frequently Asked Questions

Who stars in the film?

Who directed and wrote the movie?

What is the movie about?

When was it released?

How did the film perform commercially?

Has the film received awards or recognition?

Has the film been submitted for major awards?

What themes does the film explore?

Fun Facts

Bridesmaids (2011) follows Annie (Kristen Wiig), a struggling single woman whose life spirals as maid of honor for best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding, clashing with perfect rival Helen (Rose Byrne). Disasters strike—from food poisoning at a dress fitting to a chaotic Vegas flight—while Annie juggles romance with cop Nathan (Chris O'Dowd) and competes with quirky bridesmaids Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), Becca (Ellie Kemper), and Megan (Melissa McCarthy).