Girls Trip

Seen 25th September

Earlier this year I went to see Rough Night and while I was watching that I was thinking “This is OK, but I bet if they dropped the shitty murder plotline and just focused on the women having a good time, it’d be funnier”… sure enough, I got my wish.

Girls Trip follows four women who have been friends since college who haven’t been able to hang out for five years. So they decide to all attend the Essence Festival, an event where Ryan (Played by Regina Hall) is going to give the keynote address. As their weekend starts it’s discovered that Ryan’s husband (Played by Mike Colter) has been cheating on her. With that in mind, the weekend that follows becomes a reunion and a way for the Flossy Posse to distract their friend.

The cast is absolutely amazing in every way. Regina Hall has always been a comedic delight, I couldn’t get enough of her as Brenda in the Scary Movie series so seeing her take that energy and harness it to create this great character who is trying to handle a stressful time in her relationship while also someone who can let go and have fun, it’s amazing. Queen Latifah is an absolute queen as Sasha, a gossip columnist who could potentially spill the dirt on what her best friends husband is. She plays it so well, with a single look you know what she’s thinking and she’s not afraid to go for broke when it comes to a joke. Jada Pinkett Smith is a delight as Lisa, mother of two who needs to let her hair (And a few other things) down. She creates such a fun complex character trying to go between motherhood and just having fun, creating some great comedic moments. The best of them all though is easily Tiffany Haddish as the impulsive Dina who will readily break a bottle and threaten to stab someone for her friends. She has easily some of the best reactions and line delivery of the film, plus a brilliant bit of physical comedy with her “Grapefruiting” scene.

The writing is so well done, it’s hilarious and character driven, these feel like real women really trying to reconnect. Every joke was wonderfully set up, some that’re set up at the start get a good emotional payoff and there didn’t feel like there was anything that had to be cut, a rare feat for a 2 hour long comedy that could’ve so easily worn out it’s welcome without a good script and great cast.

I did have the tiniest problem with a few scenes where it’s clear they dubbed in a different line but didn’t match the mouth movements up quite right, but unless you look for it (Or have had to study this kind of thing for a few years, thus ruining the magic of film for you forever) you probably won’t notice it, but it’s there.

Also, Kate Walsh’s character is just a little… try hard is the polite term. There are times when she absolutely works, it’s a fun side character but there are other times when she is clearly trying to be the super cool white woman who heard 3 rap songs and thinks she knows slang that’s just painful. I’m aware that the joke is about how painfully lame it is… doesn’t make it less lame though.

In general, it’s a great fun adult comedy starring a bunch of women of color just having fun, being dirty in all the right ways, making each other laugh and in turn making the audience laugh. I genuinely hope these women team up to do something else because this was really fun.

8/10