Girls Trip
Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee
Written by: Kenya Barris, Karen McCullah, Tracy Oliver, Erica Rivinoja
Starring: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Mike Colter, Larenz Tate, Kate Walsh, Kofi Siriboe, Lara Grice, Deborah Ayorinde
Comedy - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Jul 2017
Written by: Kenya Barris, Karen McCullah, Tracy Oliver, Erica Rivinoja
Starring: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Mike Colter, Larenz Tate, Kate Walsh, Kofi Siriboe, Lara Grice, Deborah Ayorinde
Comedy - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Jul 2017
Hollywood already broke the glass ceiling in the hard-R comedy category letting us in on the secret women can be just as raunchy and disgusting as any man. However, for every Bridesmaids, there are 14 Hangover films. We need a reminder every now and again that sugar, spice, and everything nice is merely a public persona. When the ladies are with their girls behind closed doors, in this case, the Flossy Posse, there will be oral sex performed on fruit, weed bags concealed in the most posterior of locales, and an avalanche of public urination directly onto a gawking crowd below…twice.
Most of the aforementioned debauchery is performed by breakout star Tiffany Haddish (Keanu). Girls Trip is about to do for Tiffany what Bridesmaids did for Melissa McCarthy; a catapult to headlining films and perhaps a household name. Without Haddish, Girls Trip wouldn’t come close to making the audience howl and scream in astonishment as much as they did. Girls Trip is the perfect example of how audience atmosphere impacts how a film is received. If I watched Girls Trip on Netflix from my couch, so much would be lost or casually chuckled away. When you watch a movie amidst a tidal wave of its intended audience, you cannot help but be swept away by the sincere ear-to-ear smiles on everyone’s face.
Most of the aforementioned debauchery is performed by breakout star Tiffany Haddish (Keanu). Girls Trip is about to do for Tiffany what Bridesmaids did for Melissa McCarthy; a catapult to headlining films and perhaps a household name. Without Haddish, Girls Trip wouldn’t come close to making the audience howl and scream in astonishment as much as they did. Girls Trip is the perfect example of how audience atmosphere impacts how a film is received. If I watched Girls Trip on Netflix from my couch, so much would be lost or casually chuckled away. When you watch a movie amidst a tidal wave of its intended audience, you cannot help but be swept away by the sincere ear-to-ear smiles on everyone’s face.
Back to the Flossy Posse. In far too much opening voiceover, Ryan Pierce (Regina Hall, Vacation), explains how her group of four friends went to college together, partied together, made life plans together, and inevitably drifted apart. As in all cinematic foursomes, there is the party animal, the straight-laced hand sanitizer sprayer, the successful one, and a wild card fourth. Queen Latifah (Ice Age: Collision Course) is the oddball here. As Sasha Franklin, she comes off a bit more three-dimensional than her pigeon-holed co-stars, but it leaves her less to do. She doesn’t spur too many laughs nor does she set the audience on fire by hooking up with an inappropriate male companion. This means Queen Latifah does the heavy lifting.
After an extended time apart, the girls gather in New Orleans for Essence Fest, a celebration of African American culture, lifestyle, and an opportunity to revel in a long weekend hook-up and booze fest as Ryan Pierce explains to her agent, Elizabeth (Kate Walsh, The Perks of Being a Wallflower). Elizabeth is an awkward caucasian who tries to casually use the lingo she hears around her like 'turnt' which comes out ‘turned’. The four screenwriters, including Kenya Barris who created Black-ish, clutch tightly to the ‘all conflict will occur and be solved in one weekend’ narrative arc. Ryan’s idyllic marriage with ex-football star husband, Stewart (Mike Colter, Zero Dark Thirty), will be tested, Ryan and Sasha will have it out after rolling their eyes at each other’s lifestyle choices, goody two-shoes single mom, Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith, Bad Moms), will reacquaint herself with the opposite sex, and Haddish, as one-dimensional but magnetic Dina, will spike drinks, fight, scream, and bring us happily along for the ride.
Girls Trip is crammed full of one-liners, set-em-up and knock-em-downs, and quick interludes where if one scene is not working, just give it another minute, and the next ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ moment will takes its place. When the girls are ready to hit the club and Lisa emerges in sensible, Latin American style clothing covering most of her body, mariachi music plays in the background and the girls riff on tortilla and Guatemala. None of that works. However, when they down far too much absinthe and start violating furniture, the films veers right back on track.
Director Malcolm D. Lee, best known for the cult classic Undercover Brother and the Best Man films, which are a tamer version of Girls Trip for men, serves the movie on a silver platter for its intended audience. Knowing they are rebellious yet religious, he has the girls settle down in the hotel room together and pray. The prayer goes sideways about wanting to be impregnated by rich men, but they’re praying nonetheless. Lee parades a series of celebrities across the screen in cameos including some of the most famous singers on the planet, to get wave of “oohs” and “ahhs” from the peanut gallery.
It’s possible Girls Trip may introduce some new inside jokes into pop culture; I mean even more than the silly punctuation pun its title winks at. If the concept of ‘grapefruiting’ starts making the rounds, then consider Girls Trip a success. However, the best thing Girls Trip has going for it is that it moves. Plenty of it falls flat including Queen Latifah’s story arc, Regina Hall’s love life, and the ‘we get it already, nobody has the perfect marriage or perfect life’ theme. All of those sins are washed away when Tiffany Haddish runs out of the doctor’s office ecstatic she has chlamydia, “You can cure that!” Bravo Tiffany; I have no doubt I’ll see you around.
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