In 2017, we haven't had too many successful comedies. We've had our fair share of action comedies, and unintentionally bad film that end up comedies, but there wasn't any competition on the horizon. Then this summer came word about two films involving a group of women out for a great time around the same time, one is Rough Night and the other is Girls Trip. Rough Night, even with its star power, really had trouble finding a audience, even many saying the actors lacked the needed chemistry and ultimately fizzled out over time. So Girls Trip had a lot to prove not just to Hollywood but also that fans could get a fun ride.
The film involves 4 friends known as the "Flossy Posse", who have all known each other since college and hadn't been together for almost 5 years due to life changes and personal issues. But Ryan (Regina Hall) gets a keynote speaker offer at the Essence Festival In New Orleans and uses this is a chance to rekindle with her girls on have a great weekend.
First off, all 4 girls have great chemistry together. A film like this has to sell that the girls are all having a good time and the infectious energy in scenarios and their performances really works well for this kind of movie. Tiffany Haddish definitely came to play in this movie, delivering a large percentage of the laugh out loud moments (and trust me, she has more than 4 big moments in this film). It takes some time for the other characters to keep up with her energy, but it works fine in the context of the film as they start to let their hair down, particularly Jada Pinkett Smith as a mom who has built a conservatively safe lifestyle, which gets broken quick when Kofi Sidobe comes on screen (yes, ladies he's on screen for some time).
The biggest issue with this film is no matter how funny this film gets, I can't shake the fact that the plot is so familiar and generically melodramatic. The director Malcolm D. Lee also did The Best Man Holiday and format wise, the film plays almost verbatim in the same format (introduce characters, someone is cheating and every action they do proves it, someone does something behind their "closest friends" back, the typical sermon speech about friendship for 3 minutes.....you get the idea). And also, this film is 10-15 minutes too long as the 122 minute runtime lets a couple jokes go on for too long and has some moments of filler in between along with the overdone joke of "it's funny cause they don't know how to use slang talk."
Girl's Trip nonetheless is a fun trip with likable leads. If it had a shorter tighter cut, and a plot that didn't take itself so seriously in the third act, the ride wouldn't be too bumpy. Still get your friends and let the Posse take you on a ride.
The film involves 4 friends known as the "Flossy Posse", who have all known each other since college and hadn't been together for almost 5 years due to life changes and personal issues. But Ryan (Regina Hall) gets a keynote speaker offer at the Essence Festival In New Orleans and uses this is a chance to rekindle with her girls on have a great weekend.
First off, all 4 girls have great chemistry together. A film like this has to sell that the girls are all having a good time and the infectious energy in scenarios and their performances really works well for this kind of movie. Tiffany Haddish definitely came to play in this movie, delivering a large percentage of the laugh out loud moments (and trust me, she has more than 4 big moments in this film). It takes some time for the other characters to keep up with her energy, but it works fine in the context of the film as they start to let their hair down, particularly Jada Pinkett Smith as a mom who has built a conservatively safe lifestyle, which gets broken quick when Kofi Sidobe comes on screen (yes, ladies he's on screen for some time).
The biggest issue with this film is no matter how funny this film gets, I can't shake the fact that the plot is so familiar and generically melodramatic. The director Malcolm D. Lee also did The Best Man Holiday and format wise, the film plays almost verbatim in the same format (introduce characters, someone is cheating and every action they do proves it, someone does something behind their "closest friends" back, the typical sermon speech about friendship for 3 minutes.....you get the idea). And also, this film is 10-15 minutes too long as the 122 minute runtime lets a couple jokes go on for too long and has some moments of filler in between along with the overdone joke of "it's funny cause they don't know how to use slang talk."
Girl's Trip nonetheless is a fun trip with likable leads. If it had a shorter tighter cut, and a plot that didn't take itself so seriously in the third act, the ride wouldn't be too bumpy. Still get your friends and let the Posse take you on a ride.