Saoirse Ronan’s favourite comedy of all time: “There’s never a joke that doesn’t land”
Saoirse Ronan is one of the most effortlessly charismatic and talented performers working in Hollywood today, with the actor starting out in the business at just the age of eleven and starring in films such as Atonement and Hanna as a child. Even at this age, she was a natural-born performer, sparking a vivacious career in which she’s worked with directors such as Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson and Steven McQueen.
Whether it be the eternal rambunctiousness of her role as Jo in Little Women, a rebellious teenager in Lady Bird or her recently devastating role in The Outrun, the actor has laid the groundwork for a long and fruitful presence on the silver screen, marking her as one of the greatest performers of her generation, all before the age of 30.
The actor would not be as successful in the business were it not for her genuine love of film, singing the praises of films like Taxi Driver and one influential comedy from the late 2000s that caused a huge shift in the film industry.
There has been a long-lasting and damaging rhetoric in the film industry that women aren’t funny, being excluded from certain roles and told that they cannot tell jokes or try their hand at being comedic geniuses. That sort of power and command over an audience was reserved for men for a very long time, with the arrival of one film in 2011 changing this narrative after becoming one of the most successful comedies of the decade.
Bridesmaids, directed by Paul Feig, follows a woman called Annie whose life is a complete mess, and affter the announcement that her best friend is getting married, she goes into overdrive when competing with a fellow bridesmaid to be the maid of honour. Starring some of the greatest SNL writers of all time, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Mellissa McCarthy, the film was met with hoards of audience members and fits of laughter, with one particularly memorable scene going down far better than the Mexican food the characters consume as they destroy the bathroom in a bridal store.
Ronan described it as her favourite comedy of all time, saying, “I love that everyone’s funny and really different in it. There’s never a joke that doesn’t land. I like that it’s about the friendship of the girls and the marriage and even the relationship with Chris O’Dowd is kind of a secondary thing. I really love seeing two pals get a kick out of each other. Something like that hadn’t really been done in that way and it’s so brilliant that it was as successful as it was. I feel like the girls in comedy have changed: They paved the way for the rest of us I feel. I’m so bad: Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite film is, it’s always Sister Act and Dirty Dancing and Bridesmaids. It’s never, like, Citizen Kane.”
The film resonated with audiences all over the world and still holds up on a rewatch as one of the most entertaining comedies about female friendship and frenemies and another example of Ronan’s exquisite taste.
