Not only is this movie like an all-female version of The Big Chill, but this is the movie The Big Chill aspired to be but couldn't quite become! It's clear that this movie was made in light of the success of ensemble movies like Chill and St. Elmo's Fire that were big hits in the 80s, but this movie dares to break the pattern and be about something more than questions like "What happens when you grow up? Do our perspectives change? Do we change? Can our relationships started so many years ago hold up today?"
Don't get me wrong, those questions definitely can make for a great movie (and with Big Chill and St. Elmo's Fire, they did), but when you have a mixed-gender cast, it inevitably becomes more about sex than about the questions that sparked the concept in the first place. Bridesmaids makes a bold move with its four female central characters that have lives outside of their sex lives and aren't necessarily all about looking for men to partner up with. By the movie's end, each of the four women has faced and dealt with an issue that society didn't want them to address and each make the decision to not be the docile "ladies" that their culture expects of them.
The movie even deals with questions pertaining to rape in a way that foreshadowed the MeToo movement by over twenty-five years. Of course, being a product of its time, it fails to completely deal with the situation in a way that is considered appropriate over thirty years later, but at least it deals with the questions of consent and victim-blaming in a way that few 80s movies even tried to do appropriately. Most movies of the 80s looked at the issue of sex strictly through a male-dominated lens, and all-too-conveniently avoided these issues, so this is another aspect that made this film a big milestone for a made-for-TV movie in 1989.
I think it threatens a lot of male viewers to see women on screen that have things on their minds and things to do other than make room for a male partner. That's why a lot of these so-called "chick flicks" fail to connect at the box office-men are hesitant to go to one on a date, thus fewer couples go to see them. But women will love this movie. (The soundtrack is fantastic too! Any fan of 1960s rock and roll will also find much to enjoy).
Don't be fooled by this being an 80's made-for-TV movie, this is the ultimate film on female friendship. It deals with the bond women have in a way that is so seldom seen in movies (cinema, TV or otherwise) because this theme alienates male audiences. This movie is a tale of female friendship, as seen by the women themselves. Is it any wonder that the best movies about girlfriends are made by girls?
