'Bridesmaids' redeems 'chick flick' genre

For those of you who have in recent years come to regard "chick flick" as a purely pejorative term, 'Bridesmaids', directed by Paul Feig ('Unaccompanied Minors') and starring Kristen Wiig ('MacGruber'), is nothing less than miraculous.

This is a broad, female-driven comedy that is both sharply observed and genuinely funny, capable of inducing howls of laughter from both sexes in equal measure. What's more, unlike other offerings from the genre, it actually respects its audience's basic intelligence. How refreshingly novel.