Wiig and Mumolo call to mind the brilliant character actresses of the 1970s, who could sustain a "character" for the length of an entire film.
#New bridesmaids movie serial
It's good to see Dornan loosen up, after his role as Christian Gray in the " Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise, or as the serial killer in " The Fall." It's fun to see him not take himself seriously, as well as going toe-to-toe with both Wiig and Mumolo, who bring out all kinds of interesting "shades" in his talent. is very funny as the most incompetent secret agent who ever existed, revealing his real name and phone number in his first interaction with Edgar, and then saying, "Dammit, I wasn't supposed to do that." Jamie Dornan does an entire musical number on the beach, leaping through the sand, lip synching as he leans sadly against palm trees. The entire hotel staff does a massive musical number welcoming Barb and Star to Vista Del Mar. Both villains make lengthy self-pitying monologues as everyone just stands around listening, glancing at each other awkwardly. The absurdity of the proceedings is highlighted, rather than underplayed. Wiig and Mumolo are so compulsively watchable, together and apart, they keep the whole thing bobbing in the air like a beach ball. Greenbaum understands the importance of a well-placed cut (one cut in particular made me laugh out loud).
#New bridesmaids movie movie
This is refreshing.Ī movie like this needs its pace to be on point. Well, there is one breach, which then leads to a very funny nod to " Fatal Attraction," but other than that, the friendship is solid. They lose their heads over Edgar in a very funny sequence where the three of them gyrate on the dance floor to a re-mix of Celine Dion's theme for " Titanic," and there's some rivalry for his affection, but none of that causes a breach in the friendship. What they also manage to do, however, and it's crucial, is give a sense of the very real friendship between these two women.
You can see the basis of that work in their performances here, where they "riff" on each other, picking up internal cues, finishing each others' sentences (sometimes incorrectly), and leaping into the breach of awkward moments with nonstop sometimes desperate babble. Wiig and Mumolo met years ago when they both performed at The Groundlings, the legendary improv and sketch comedy theatre in Los Angeles. What matters is the energy and the confident propulsion of all the silliness, grounded by Wiig and Mumolo, whose characterizations may be broad but never empty caricatures. You got all that? If you don't, it doesn't matter. He is in Vista Del Mar at the behest of his employer and (he hopes) girlfriend, an evil spider-woman-type who lives in a high-tech underground lair, dreaming of wiping Vista Del Mar off the map via a swarm of deadly mosquitoes. (Culottes play a huge role in the film.) Once there, they meet and fall in insta-love/lust with Edgar Pagét ( Jamie Dornan), the hottie sitting next to them at the bar. Naïve and wide-eyed with childish delight, they head to a resort town called Vista Del Mar in Florida, packing their curlers and culottes. They decide to take a little trip, their very first. There's something so invigorating about romps like this, and "Barb and Star" is no exception.Ĭoming a decade after Wiig and Mumolo's Oscar-nominated script for " Bridesmaids," "Barb and Star" features both Wiig and Mumolo playing best-friends Star (Wiig) and Barb (Mumolo), nice ladies from Nebraska who live together after their marriages ended. None of it has any real-world "relevance" and nobody cares because it's not that kind of movie.
With a hodge-podge mix of about five different genres, including elements from movies like "Top Secret," or " Real Genius," "Airplane!" or something like "Love at First Bite," it's also a throwback to 1960s James Bond movies, before the franchise started to take itself so seriously, or the Elvis movies, where Elvis is dropped into some "exotic" location to have adventures and romances, sings songs, and get involved in local and/or international intrigue. In eras past, a movie like this would have run for months at a drive-in theatre.
In fact, it glories in the openly silly, the ludicrous it proceeds with the attitude: "Hey, let's just throw this random bit in there, let's put in some musical numbers too, why not!" Once you stop worrying about realism, you can do whatever you want, as long as it's funny, as long as it is watchable, with the right pacing. The film, directed by Josh Greenbaum, and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo (who also co-wrote the script) doesn't take itself seriously at all. "Romp" itself is an old-fashioned word, but it shouldn't be. "Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar" is an old-fashioned romp.
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