“Girls Trip” is a comedy that premiered July 21st, which stars Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish. The film centers on the four long-time friends – Ryan (Hall), Sasha (Latifah), Lisa (Pinkett Smith) and Dina (Haddish) – who go on a weekend trip to The Essence Festival in New Orleans to reconnect after not seeing one another for five years.
This raunchy comedy excels in many aspects. The film takes advantage of the R rating, as there are a lot of raunchy gags and over the top jokes. Typically, the raunchy comedies that are more critically appraised stars male leads, but this film excels with these leading ladies. The ladies in “Girls Trip” shine and offer many funny and clever jokes. In fact, there are many moments that cause a crowd to erupt in in laughter and it jokes seem to never stop. The movie also offers heartfelt moments that evoke the crowd’s shock or applause; these moments help to create a fun atmosphere.
The movie is a great experience and this is in part due to the great characters. The characters are not static as they all are going their particular journeys and have their own struggles. Coming into a raunchy comedy, one may think that the characters would be one dimensional or caricatures, but these ladies aren’t so simple. The movie manages to present the four leading ladies as dynamic characters with their own unique quirks and demons. This allows the audience to follow along with these ladies and connect and relate with them. The characters are fleshed out more than expected and this can this can be attributed to the women playing the roles. The actors bring the characters to life and makes the characters even personable and relatable.
The casting of the lead ladies is great for the movie. One of the leads, Haddish, who is relatively unknown, stands out in this movie; she shines in the movie and offers the most laughs. Haddish play a typical party girl, which may seem like an archetype in this type of movie but she plays the role with a bit more depth and causes the audience to erupt on laughter time and time again. The other ladies, who big stars in Hollywood, Pinkett Smith, Hall, and Latifah, play more restrained characters, but they deliver great performances and find a way to offer great humor as well.
A problem with the film would be that the other characters who appears on screen is rather one-dimensional and lacks depth. And this causes the problem where some character’s motivations are not known and this creates some plot holes; and some of the supporting character’s gags does not hit as well as the four leads but nevertheless the supporting cast does a good enough job supporting the leading ladies to hold audience’s interest. Also, these faults are minor because the supporting cast doesn’t need to be overshadow the leads any way. In fact, the four leads command the audience’s attention and turning the audience focus from the other characters.
The story is compelling on its own merit. R-rated comedies normally showcase gag after gag without presenting a cohesive plot, but “Girls Night” manages to construct a compelling and solid story with universal messages and themes. The story excels in how it highlights the believability and complexity of the relationship between the girls. As the movie goes on, the plot allows for interesting revelations and gives intriguing tidbits about each characters, their
struggles, and their relationship with one another. Overall, the story offers heartfelt, relatable, and entertaining moments.
Also, the movie does throw in a lot of cameos, Neyo, Ava Duvernay, Mariah Carey, P-Diddy and Common, and movie showcase a lot of familiar music; some may feel that it may not be thrown in; however, it is warranted as the plot revolves around the characters being at the Essence Festival. It is a nice touch to have celebrities and popular music as these make the audience feel that they are at the festival themselves.
Regardless of minor issues, the movie still surpasses expectations. The movie is a hilarious and fun ride and a great experience. It is more than just a raunchy comedy; the film is a rather compelling story with likeable and fully-realized lead characters. Watching the movie in the theater enhances the experience as the audience gets to share in the laughs as a community. “Girls Trip” gets 4 out 5 paws.
