Film Review - Barb And Star Go To The Vista del Mar (2021)

For pretty much every single day since watching Barb & Star Go To The Vista Del Mar, this intrepid writer has had Wham‘s glorious 1980s pop anthem Club Tropicana flowing around his head. Bopping up and down the stairs, doing the chores, making dinner, has infiltrated my brain in quite a way, ironic given the arctic conditions that have settled over the UK in recent days. The crickets and cicadas chirp, George Michael‘s iconic vocal talents fill the space and you can’t help dancing. There’s no real link between this and the comedy except it’s a song about having fun in tropical, sun-drenched surroundings. It’s also far, far more memorable.

For Barb and Star…, the new film from the dynamic writing duo of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo who brought us the brilliant, subversive Bridesmaids a decade ago, is a huge misfire. As dry as the grainy sand they spend most of their time on and as flat as a deflated banana boat, it’s hard to pick a comedy as crushing since perhaps Dumb & Dumber Too (naïve enough of think that might have been something) for the talent both behind and in front of the camera and the expectations attached to it. After a winning opening salvo, which probably has the film’s funniest moments, it’s a big, painful belly flop from there on out, and it only gets more excruciating – and irritating – as we continue.

The titular duo (Mumolo is Barb, Wiig is Star) are best friends and, after being laid off from their jobs, decide they need a vacation and, on the advice of acquaintance Mickey (Bridesmaids co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey), they head off to the Vista del Mar, a place of sun, sand, sea, cocktails and similarly aged adults looking for a midlife thrill. Adjacent to this, a notorious villain and henchman/lover Edgar (Jamie Dornan) have targeted the town for destruction. As you do.

If you’ve seen the trailers for the film, you may already be familiar with the vernacular and tones of our intrepid ladies but, after about an hour, they and their personalities – and, indeed, the film itself – becomes an endurance test, not unlike a continuous prank involving nails and a chalkboard. There are a few flashes of the sharp, unique comedy styling that made Bridesmaids such an influential and much-loved film, most notably a hilarious song and dance number involving Dornan (far removed from Mr. Grey) and a scene-stealing turn from young Reyn Doi, who deserves a star all to himself frankly.

But aside from these sporadic moments of genius, its hit rate is sporadic at best and, as we head towards the finish line, it becomes some of an endurance test to stay with it. Normally that would be a “thanks, next” kind of scenario but the sting still reverberates long after the film’s conclusion as to how such talents, who have showcased their plethora of fresh, sharp, incisive comedy melodies can sink quite so low. Painfully disappointing, this.