12 Best Movies To Watch For Galentine's Day

2011's "Bridesmaids" was marketed with the phrase, "Chick flicks don't have to suck." Surely, that was an attempt to bring in an audience beyond "chicks." It worked. The comedy was a smash hit, making more than $300 million and earning Academy Award nominations for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo (Best Writing, Original Screenplay) and Melissa McCarthy (Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role).

Maya Rudolph plays Lillian, the bride-to-be who corrals her disparate group of besties, beginning with her engagement party. The impending wedding is, of course, part of the plot, but the focus mostly stays on the bridal party, led by Kristen Wiig as Lillian's ne'er-do-well maid of honor, Annie. McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Wendi McClendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper round out the rest of the hilarious main cast. 

"Bridesmaids" gives six great female comedians the chance to do the kind of gross-out humor and edgy observation that's usually reserved for men in movies like "The Hangover," a film to which it's often been compared. One infamous sequence involves the trying on of expensive gowns just as severe indigestion from spoiled meat sets in. The harder R-rated parts of "Bridesmaids" are funny, but where it upstages its competition — regardless of gender — is in its exploration of jealousy within adult friendship dynamics. It's incredibly re-watchable because it works on so many levels, from gags about puppies as party favors to figuring out mid-life crises with a little help from your friends.