Director / Malcolm D. Lee (THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY, SCARY MOVIE 5)
Stars/ Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah

White men can’t jump the raised bar of witty dialogue and acidic retorts being projected from the four lead female stars of this fiery new comedy. GIRLS TRIP is in fact the first film to be entirely produced, written and directed by as well as starring African-Americans to gross more than $100 million at the U.S box office.

Ryan (Hall), Dina (Haddish), Lisa (Pinkett Smith) and Sasha (Latifah) share a lifelong friendship, referring to themselves as the flossy posse, which has gradually become a little distant over the years to now. With the annual Essence Music Festival, which celebrates the Essence magazine that is aimed primarily towards African-American women, soon to be held in New Orleans, the girls decide to reunite for the event. It will be a weekend of wild partying and mayhem as the recently separated Lisa, loose-cannon Dina, workaholic Sasha and Ryan, whose husband is not being faithful to her, rekindle their sisterhood.

This absolutely awesome foursome ensure that GIRLS TRIP is indeed a trip worth taking.

Funnily enough, many of the experiences had by the lead female characters of this comedy are in fact based on the real-life encounters that writers Kenya Barris (TV series Black-ish), Tracy Oliver and story writer Erica Rivinoja (TROLLS) had with their female friends. That realness has been seamlessly conveyed to screen, courtesy of the genuine rapport these ladies share and the sharp writing. The script is laden with ripping one-liners, crude vocabulary that is bluntly delivered and a handful of scenarios that you won’t be forgetting in a hurry. These scenarios are aimed at being the highlights of GIRLS TRIP, yet compared to the brilliant execution of the writing, they do arguably produce a few more low-light moments instead. Speaking of highlights, however, a stand-out performance from Tiffany Haddish (KEANU) must be noted. Her uncouth character is hand-fed the script’s most vulgar language and Haddish hilariously hits the right tone and delivery on a frequent basis.

A very basic plot outline that has a single direction – to arrive at the festival and get the partying started – turns somewhat sentimental in its final quarter. Despite the ratio of laughter being evoked dropping off, it is the valuable meaning derived from this and the unbreakable bond that is convincingly depicted by the lead cast, whom work together extremely well, that end this comedy on a high note.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion/ MA15+ (Strong crude sexual humour and coarse language) 

Trailer / GIRLS TRIP

Moviedoc thanks Universal Pictures for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc

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