Just because Bridesmaids walks down the box-office aisle a few weeks before the second edition of The Hangover, don’t assume that this is a golden bridal shower before that big event. Of course, there’s an ensemble gang and they are most certainly ready to par-tay.

Lillian (Maya Rudolph) chose her best friend Annie (Kristen Wiig) to be her maid of honor, but the timing’s a bit off. Annie is sleeping with a conceited jerk (Jon Hamm), unhappy with her job and living arrangement and now locked in a pitched battle against Helen (Rose Byrne), the trophy wife of Lillian’s fiancé’s boss, a woman willing to go to any length to insert herself into Lillian’s life, which, in this case, means removing Annie from the coveted top spot.

Three other ladies-in-waiting round out the bridal party, but only Megan (Melissa McCarthy), the sister of the groom, stands out from the pack, mainly because McCarthy is the beer that chases your favorite shot.

In truth though, Bridesmaids isn’t about a lost weekend or the bride’s last single fling before the wedding. Annie simply needs to find herself to get her mojo in time to stand by Lillian. It goes without saying that Annie screws things up royally — remember this is a Judd Apatow production of a script co-written by Wiig, the Saturday Night Live jokester. Apatow, like Todd Phillips, loves, raucous and raunchy laughs, but thanks to Wiig (on both sides of the camera) Bridesmaids feels like it’s about real women, really funny women; the kind that guys would want to share the cheap shots of life with rather than just ogle onscreen. Grade: B+