Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated together for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) at the 84th Academy Awards, which was ten years ago. They were nominated for
Bridesmaids (2011). It got another Oscar nomination but it wasn't up for Best Picture. Yet, it should have been because it was one of the best films of that year. Wiig and Mumolo are obviously good writers and well-trained comedians.
Bridesmaids was such a high bar that they set for themselves that it would be hard for them or anyone to reach that level again. This film certainly doesn't. There are some funny things about it, but it doesn't feel like the smash that was
Bridesmaids. This film is going for something different, tone-wise, than
Bridesmaids. Strangely, this film feels like it's trying to be funny and that it's trying too hard.
Bridesmaids had its obvious gags and over-the-top scenes but it was funny without feeling like it was trying to be.
Bridesmaids felt more natural, more real-world. This film is a ridiculous farce that bangs you over the head with its comedy.
The title might invoke comparisons to such films as Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). The sequels to which lean toward farce, but even the later Harold and Kumar films feel more grounded than this film from Wiig and Mumolo. One might say that this film is actually closer in tone to something like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) or Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). Austin Powers though was a spoof of the James Bond films. This film isn't a spoof but at times it can feel like it's spoofing films in the vein of female friends on a trip. I don't know if films in that vein are ripe for ridicule. It's adequate in that regard, but there's not much sharpness or punch to any of the comedy here. It's more or less "nice-core." At one point, the film feels like it might lean into sex comedy, which would have been compelling to see for women like Wiig and Mumolo, but the film backs away from that or pulls its punches that I ultimately felt disappointed.
Kristen Wiig (
Wonder Woman 1984 and
Bridesmaids) stars as Sharon Gordon Fisherman aka Star. She's a woman in her late 40's or early 50's. She's divorced, after having been left by her husband for another woman. She thinks that she's not beautiful anymore and that she's disgusting. She now lives with her best friend. They've been best friends for decades. They've probably been roommates before when they were younger, but now they're roommates again. Not only do they live together but they also work together. They're both associates at a furniture store where they spend less time selling furniture and more time chatting about random topics.
Annie Mumolo (Bad Moms and This Is 40) co-stars as Barbara Quicksilver aka Barb. The aforementioned best friend to Star. She's widowed and is at the same station in life as Star. Barb is very simpatico with Star. They talk alike. They think alike. They finish each other's sentences. They're completely on the same wavelength. The drama such that it is involves Barb and Star not being on the same wavelength at least for longer than they've probably ever been, presumably.
Jamie Dornan (
Robin Hood and
Fifty Shades of Grey) also co-stars as Edgar Pagét, a man that Barb and Star meet while vacationing in Florida. Both of them develop a romantic or at least a lustful attraction to him. The two don't fight over him, but both become distant from each other due to their attraction to Edgar. If the film had just been about Barb and Star screwing around with Edgar while trying to hide it from the other, then that would have been fine. However, there is another plot where Edgar is actually a henchman for a woman who is very much an Austin Powers villain. That plot rather derails a simple emotional story about friendship between two women of a certain age.
It should be noted that Dornan is an Irish actor who is playing the love interest in this film. In Bridesmaids, Wiig and Mumolo had Chris O'Dowd who is another Irish actor playing the love interest in that film. It could just be a coincidence or maybe Wiig and Mumulo have a thing for Irish actors. If their next film features Colin Farrell or Michael Fassbender as the love interest, then we know it's a definite pattern. I also have to note that Dornan gets a musical number where he actually sings. Dornan sang in the final sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey and in his film last year called Wild Mountain Tyme (2020).
This film also has another musical number. Yet, that's it. It seems like it's going to lean into the musical genre but just has those two numbers. It's strange though that in a film about women and by women that the two musical numbers go to men. Wiig can sing. She's done so on
Saturday Night Live. Why she and Mumolo wouldn't give themselves the space to do music for their own characters felt odd. Their silliness otherwise is mostly entertaining.
Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content, drug use and some strong language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 47 mins.
Available on Hulu.
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