GIRLS TRIP review

GIRLS TRIP
starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith

directed by Malcolm D. Lee

A review by Helen J. Reynolds
 
Four friends catch up after five long years as the big success of the group, Ryan (Regina Hall) is an invited keynote speaker for the New Orleans Essence Festival. It turns into an all-out girly weekend with booze, boys, gossip and scandal. 

The format is pretty stale and the story is fed through Channel Five movie-esque scripting, but there are plenty of jokes and good chemistry in the main cast. 

Ryan is a bestselling author, married to Marvel's Avenger Luke Cage (Mike Colter), here a soccer player who can't keep it in his pants. Their marriage runs on the cheesy catchphrase that You Can Have It All, meaning women can be both loved and successful. The sad thing is that this isn't a satire of the self-help section but, near the end, actually tries to be truly empowering in a speech that runs so long and predictably, you almost reach for your TV remote.

The romantic relationships of the movie are its weak point. They're labelled very simply as Divorce, Cheater, Soulmate and One-Night Stand. It's the friendship part that has at least something real behind it. Friendships drift apart, resentments linger, and the worst points of your life are the ones you don't want even your closest friends to see. 

Sasha (Queen Latifah) a gossip columnist, Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) a mother of two and Dina (Tiffany Haddish) a glass half-full plus tequila shot type gal, are all single ladies and ready to call bullshit to Regina's fake marriage.
The weekend involves drugs, piss, grapefruit sex and a dance-off. Perfect comic timing from Tiffany Haddish steals most of the jokes, Jada Pinkett Smith is just adorable and Queen Latifah proves again she can play a character. Regina Hall is left as the beautiful lead who takes on a Danielle Steel storyline with at least believability. 

 It's a fun ride with easy laughs and is impressively the first all-black movie (written, produced, directed and acted) to make $100 million in the box office. Definitely a more appealing option than its counter-movie Rough Night, which pokes fun at murdering prostitutes (but we're expected to swallow it down because of the gender flip). 

Girls Trip is maybe not comedy gold, but you'd be hard pressed not to smile along with it. 

A combination of:
Bridesmaid (2011)
The Hangover (2009)
Sex and the City (2008)

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