Pack light for this getaway with writers/producers/stars Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in their whacky comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, because you will want to leave before it’s over. Being campy as campy can be, the ridiculousness is presumed, but so are laughs and there’s hardly any of those happening. Dallying in blinding bright colors, this tale of friendship hardly makes a splash – while Wiig and Mumolo’s chemistry is unmistakably delightful and Jamie Dornan is having the time of his life. So maybe it’s not a totally wasted trip.
Lifelong friends Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig) lose their jobs and are kicked out of their talking club. Stuck in a rut, what’s a couple of middle-aged ladies suppose to do? To stop living in the past and start making memories for the now – that’s what! They leave their small Nebraska town to soak up some sun and ride that tit-flapping banana boat down at Vista Del Mar. If director Josh Greenbaum would have ignored a portion of what Wiig and Mumolo wrote and kept the story to Barb and Star getting their shimmer back, this buddy comedy that cherishes friendship would have for sure been more engaging and enjoyable. Unfortunately, no such thing happens.
There’s a love triangle between Barb, Star, and Edgar (Dornan) – who at first desperately wants a committed relationship with Sarah Gordon Fisherman (an unrecognizable Wiig). She’s a wearying villainess with her own lair who would be better suited for an Austin Powers movie. As a little girl, she was bullied for her skin pigmentation disease. Guess where? Vista Del Mar. She vows to get her revenge with some help from Edgar and killer mosquitos. Lets not leave out the the random musical numbers and a talking crab. Neither being the most insane parts of the movie.
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is deep down about the value of friends and the giant guilt carried when lying to them. However, the story and script lose sight of that with those involved pulling out all the stops in turning it in to an interminable SNL sketch swimming in stupidity. A staycation eating hotdog soup is starting to sound pretty good right about now.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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