Directed By Josh Greenbaum

Starring – Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan

The Plot – The story of best friends Barb (Wiig) and Star (Mumolo), who leave their small Midwestern town for the first time to go on vacation in Vista Del Mar, Florida, where they soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love, and a villain’s (Also Wiig) evil plot to kill everyone in town.

Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content, drug use and some strong adult language

Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021 Movie) Official Trailer – Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Dazzling leads. Even if “Barb and Star” isn’t the kind of film or comedy for me, the work of Wiig and Mumolo simply can’t be denied, for their commitment to personalities that bring out the most in each actress. For Wiig, it’s double duty as Star and the film’s primary antagonist that allows her another chance to shine under the transformative blanket of make-up and prosthetics that made her surefire entertainment during a storied career on Saturday Night Live. For Mumolo, it’s a chance to escape the writer’s chair and supporting roles for a big screen presence in attention that proves she’s just as gifted without a pen as she is with it. The chemistry between Wiig and Mumolo easily certifies the best friend connection that much of the movie is invested in, complete with a limitless appeal in chemistry, as well as a commitment to accents and characterization that easily allows each of them to sink into these vibrant personalities without interruption.

– Endless style. The set design and overall vibrancy of the movie’s color pallet is alluring to say the least, and really channels much of the taste of tourism that a majority of this movie resides in. There’s definitely an abundance of Florida keys flare that exudes itself in much of the aqua-dominated consistencies of turquoise and pink that blankets much of the movie’s visual compasses, but for my money it’s the decor of the film’s hotel setting that really captures much of the imagination that the movie’s creativity is infatuated with, giving us an often out of body serenity that visually seduces us like the most colorful of tourist brochures. This presents the film with likely the only reason I would recommend it for a theatrical appeal, as the almost three-dimensional quality of influence lends itself accordingly to the biggest screen imaginable, giving us a visual spectrum that does reach the heights that the rest of the film simply never can.

– Different direction?. There are times throughout the script when it chooses to dabble in a musical encompassing, complete with big stage dance choreography and wall-breaking performances meant to stitch together the kind of backstory exposition that a movie with limitations can’t afford to depict. For my money, it works accordingly, as the songs themselves not only fit into the fantastical atmosphere of an environment that Greenbaum has constructed here, but also exude a level of toe-tapping mayhem with a creativity in lyrics that take up permanent reality in your head after only a single watch. As I will mention later, the film’s creativity often tries to muster up far too many subgenre’s and directions that are never remotely justified in the context of the direction of the film, but this musical variety worked wonderfully for the film’s brand of humor, and helped to keep me interested in a weaker first half for the film that was searching for any level of identity to sell its best material.

NEGATIVES

– Tonally convoluted. At times, “Barb and Star” is an action romper, a romantic tryst, a slapstick comedy, a 70’s surf movie, and a science fiction thriller. If that long-winded explanation doesn’t paint the picture of the clueless mentality that this movie perseveres with, then consider that none of these thematic arcs blend particularly well with the next, and it leads to an often disjointed and even dyslexic storytelling direction that feel like a bunch of pieces forcefully trying to see where each of them fit in the context of this plot. Honestly, if the film would’ve showcased zombies during the third act, I wouldn’t of been surprised in the least. It’s one of those films that tries to reach to be so much, but fumbles its execution with a grasp for material that doesn’t earn the kind of aspirations it tries to attain, and leaves the entirety of this film feeling like an ill-conceived series of ideas without the creativity in alluring each of them with synthetic magnetism.

– Flat humor. I’ll give this movie’s gags credit; when they fail, they fail monumentally. Humor is of course subjective to everyone who comes across it, but for my experience with “Barb and Star”, this is a movie that isn’t even remotely funny, and serves as the 12:50 AM Saturday Night Live filler skit meant to waste time before the final goodbye’s. The material inside tries many levels of bodily humor, satire, irony, and visual sight gags, and none of them land with the kind of consistency or remote effectiveness that will leave anything memorable even five minutes after seeing this film, and because its material is aimed at a very limited audience of 40-something women, much of the punchlines won’t feel as effective against an audience who don’t qualify. It’s hard to believe that this is from the very same people who brought us a comedy classic like “Bridesmaids”, because “Barb and Star” isn’t just unfunny, it’s downright humiliating in the face of the abundance of talent, on and off-screen, involved in it.

– Editing inconsistencies. It baffles me how an editing scheme can garner a few momentary chuckles in the way it bends and manipulates time and reality in the foreground of the character in frame, yet somehow stumble consistently on its way to leaving much of the ad-libbing by Wiig and Mumolo on screen. This not only tests the patience of the audience, as well as the overall pacing of the film, which is frustratingly arduous, but also drags these scenes and joke executions on for longer than they rightfully should. This is a 106 minute film that never had to be over 90 for any reason what so ever. It frequently drags its feet during times that asks for urgency in the foreground of the story, and picks the times it chooses to be clever, which in turn makes this feel like as many as three editors were responsible for establishing stability in the collection of transitions and cuts. What a mess.

– Uninspired. It should take about ten minutes of actual screen time for anyone in the audience to engage in familiarity that they’ve seen much of this movie before, and that’s because they have. This movie is a reincarnation of Austin Powers, right down to the very formula its predecessor prescribed for its audience. There’s an evil villain hellbent on taking over the world, she’s played by the same lead actress, she sends an attractive figure to seduce and distract her enemy, and she has a mini me who is arguably the most dangerous of the army she has attained. The thing is, these elements are fine on their own, but the way they assemble in the movements of the film make them all the more familiar, and give this film little in the way of originality to earn a legacy of its own. There certainly are other films that this movie borrows from, but none more prominent than Powers, whom I now appreciate even more because it will forever be linked to this awful disaster.

– Inaccessible characterization. Another element where “Bridesmaids” earned its audience was in the vast array of characters and relatable situations that the movie’s humor and awkwardness thrived on. For “Barb and Star”, we get two middle aged women who are the very definition of uncool, and whose own awkwardness alienates them from every job and friend that they’ve attained along the way. There is the value of friendship in their bond against the rest of the world, but because much of the film is rooted in imagination and these paranormal elements that materialize in everything from crabs talking like Morgan Freeman, to Reba Mcintyre being an enchantress of the sea, it loses the attainability that it has in audiences familiarizing themselves in nuances and particular predicaments that are a cut from the slice of life. That’s not to say it’s not possible in movies rooted in fantasy for an audience to invest, just that here it’s so bizarre and downright silly that it has a steeper mountain to climb in terms of reaching the connection that everyone could define in “Bridesmaids”.

– Continuity errors. Is it pointless to degrade a movie this stupid for the lack of consistency between scenes? I believe it’s not, simply because the context of these events in sequence do reach for a semblance of believability because they themselves aren’t the joke. What I mean by this is depicted in a couple of instances, but my favorite is between two, with one being Barb and Star being bone dry when they get out of the water, with the exception of the bottom of their pants. If it were an intended joke, clearly everything would be bone dry, so why not go the full mile instead of this ridiculous instance of illogical? The second one involves a particular wardrobe choice on Dornan’s character, who goes from having only the bottom three buttons buttoned, to then having the entire shirt buttoned up in the next shot. People don’t often fault this element of production, but to me it’s huge in telling the kind of stronghold that the producers had on the movie, resulting in several scene breaks that broke my concentration to already a series of diminishing returns.

My Grade: 3/10 or F