Back in 2011, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo reinvigorated the comedy genre with the sleeper hit Bridesmaids – which even earned the pair a couple of Academy-Award nominations for their screenplay. A decade later and the best friends are finally back together for candy-coloured romp Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.
When the mild-mannered Midwesterners – Mumolo as Barb and Wiig playing Star – lose their job at the local department store, they decide to take a break from their idyllic life with an impromptu trip to Vista Del Mar in Florida. But their vacation goes awry when they find themselves competing for the affection of Edgar (Jamie Dornan), and subsequently caught between him, a Bond-villain type (also played by Wiig but rocking a monochrome wardrobe) and an elaborate plan to destroy the cosy Vista Del Mar.
If it wasn’t immediately obvious from the film’s hallucinogenic marketing campaign, Bridesmaids this is not. The grounded comedy is scrapped for a far more farcical approach reminiscent to an SNL skit. And at its best, Barb and Star does feel akin to an extended Saturday Night Live sketch with Wiig and Mumolo cultivating increasingly absurd sequences for their oblivious leads to stew in. But, at its worst (and more often than not), it feels like a string of rejected and painfully unfunny skits haphazardly cobbled together to make a feature film. Considering how refreshing and sharp Bridesmaids was, it’s somewhat frustrating that the humour all falls flat here. This film is stuffed with eye-rolling jokes and cringe-inducing gags and, after a while, the whole “silly” and “absurd” approach loses its novelty and becomes obnoxious.
Mumolo and Wiig admittedly have great chemistry on-screen together but their characters of Barb and Star are so uninteresting and one-dimensional that the backbone of the narrative – their undying love and loyalty for one another – is not even slightly investing or sincere. The only remotely fascinating character is Dornan’s Edgar and that’s just because it’s refreshing to see the actor cut-loose and commit to the sappy, insecure romantic role in a film that’s very against-the-grain from what we’d usually see from him. He typically plays very macho men so it’s nice to see him perform a very unexpected ballad on a beach about how he’s in love with someone that doesn’t reciprocate his affection. He’s easily the most entertaining part of the film.
There are certainly times when Barb and Star works (see above) and the commitment from the cast is undeniably watchable (again, see above) but it feels like a smorgasbord of ideas that don’t come together as a whole. The fact that the film throws in a megalomaniacal villain and a comic-book plot of city-destroying proportions for the sake of being random just illustrates my point. Considering how comedic Wiig and Mumolo can be, Barb and Star is a huge disappointment because of how unfunny it is. And then it’s just strange too. Maybe the mind-numbing colour and silliness are diverting just enough because we’re all under house arrest with a terrifying pandemic on our doorstep but Barb and Star is a piping hot mess.
Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is available on demand from 12th February.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Summary
Barb and Star is largely disappointing and unfunny. However, Mumolo and Wiig admittedly have great chemistry on-screen together and Jamie Dornan is a true highlight. However, it’s a film full of mind-numbing colour and silliness that might just about have enough to divert your attention for a couple of hours.
