From left: Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish in Girls Trip. ( Universal Pictures \/ TNS ) <\/p>\n
Starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Opens Friday in GTA theatres. 122 minutes. 18A <\/p>\n
There is a positive and life-affirming message about sisterhood and personal empowerment in Girls Trip. <\/p>\n
But you have to wade through an awful lot of clutter to get there. Or perhaps dross would be a more accurate description. <\/p>\n
The film is audacious and unabashed in its determination to draw laughs from material that takes vulgarity to the extreme. Some of it works while a lot of it is just head-shakingly awful. <\/p>\n
The plot is straightforward: four women, best pals since college 25 years earlier, reunite for the first time in quite a while to party hardy at the annual Essence Music Festival can you say product placement? in the Big Easy. <\/p>\n
Ryan (Regina Hall) is a successful self-help author and guest speaker at the event, hoping to land a merchandising deal with a mega-retailer (if only she can overlook the activities of her cheating louse of a husband). <\/p>\n
Sasha (Queen Latifah) is a journalist who has sold out, barely scraping a living with a celebrity-gossip blog. Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a glammed-down helicopter mom to two kids while Dina (Tiffany Haddish) is the sassy, libidinous one with major impulse-control issues. <\/p>\n
With four credited screenwriters, the too many chefs maxim applies the script is loose and lazy, with more focus on antics and bad language than plot and character development. <\/p>\n
Words like bitch, ho and the dreaded N-word flow freely, and how tiresome and anti-feminist it is to hear women repeat the mantra that what all a woman with the blues needs is something big and black. <\/p>\n
Two scenes drew horrified peals of laughter from the audience at a recent public screening, one involving golden showers and a second featuring full frontal nudity by a homeless man. <\/p>\n
Still, the film is not a total writeoff. Theres some good chemistry among the four principals and a fine performance from Hall as Ryan, a torn woman whose life looks way better on the outside. <\/p>\n
And Queen Latifah brings her usual solid screen presence, along with some sweet melancholy, to the role of Sasha. <\/p>\n
Theres clearly a ready audience for Girls Trip it certainly tickled funny bones at the advance screening and theres a resolution that is genuinely warm and redemptive. <\/p>\n
But a comedy thats so determined to shock the laughs out of you isnt going to be everyones idea of a fun trip to the movies. <\/p>\n
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Girls Trip goes too far, far too often: review - Toronto Star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From left: Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish in Girls Trip. ( Universal Pictures \/ TNS ) Starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah. Directed by Malcolm D. Continue reading