Always a Bridesmaid (2019)
(On TV, April 2021) This probably won’t reflect well on me, but I’m always game for a BET-broadcast romantic comedy if the heroine is cute, and I certainly got what I was looking for in Javicia Leslie as the lead actress in Always a Bridesmaid. You can probably write a good chunk of the script from the title alone: Perennially single female protagonist suddenly looking for love, with a few obstacles on the way. As such, the film plays to its strengths by focusing on its likable heroine — capable, kind-hearted, obviously popular with her friends but somehow not in a relationship. Her exploration of the contemporary dating scene is good for a funny montage, but she soon finds The One (Jordan Calloway, also likable) who will stick with her for the rest of the film, through temporary breakups and other artificial obstacles. The film sticks very close to its PG rating and it’s not a bad thing — it keeps the humour leashed to a family-friendly format. Always a Bridesmaid is innocuous, but innocuous is what I was looking for after a recent diet of heavy Oscar-nominated dramas and terrible horror films — a nice romantic comedy with an attractive lead is exactly what was needed. I would, in other circumstances, have some reservations about the narrative decision taken along the way — the straightforward lack of romantic tension in knowing how (let alone if) the two leads would end up together, the awkward time skip at the very end of the film, the bland complications, the idiot characterization for what’s supported to be an intelligent character… but as with most romantic comedies, Always a Bridesmaid is much better in its details, subplots, moments and side conversations than it is in overall structure and plotting. I didn’t care much about its flaws, even as I was constantly mentally rewriting the script along the way — it’s sweet enough as it is, and Leslie has such a winning screen presence that I was happy enough with the results. As written by co-star Yvette Nicole Brown and directed by Trey Haley, Always a Bridesmaid is not a great or even a good movie, even focusing on the black-cast romantic comedy sub-sub genre that is BET’s bread-and-butter — but sometimes you don’t need good or great: you’re just happy with something average and pleasant.