Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Saturday, February 27

PG-13 Running Time: 106 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo arrive at just the right time, creating two comedic characters in Barb and Star who are rather wonderful in all their silliness and goofy charm.

  • Fans of a go-for-broke comedy, with hints of slapstick comedy, one-liners, elaborate gags, and Naked Gun-style punchlines, there is literally something for everyone in Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar.

  • At a time when comedy is tough to truly embrace and escape into, Wiig and Mumolo’s screenplay is full of quotable lines, memorable moments, and was absolutely the perfect antidote to take in a year after COVID-19 changed our world forever.

NO

  • This is such an over-the-top, relentless comedy, the film’s peculiar brand of humor may not be for everyone.

  • Some have called this little more than an elongated sketch, which may not be entirely be wrong. However, that minimizes so much of what this film does in its never-ending attempts to make people laugh and have a good time.

  • As someone who thoroughly enjoyed this way more than I should have, even I acknowledge it was far too long at 106 minutes.


OUR REVIEW

Deliriously and obnoxiously silly, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are back together as writers, and now co-stars and co-producers, in the relentlessly hilarious and charming Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Bypassing theaters because of large-scale COVID-19 restrictions, the film is now available on Premium Video on Demand.

To discount Barb & Star as little more than a “Saturday Night Live” skit-style movie would be a mistake because Wiig and Mumolo have fleshed out these characters - two middle-aged women from Soft Rock, Nebraska - with back stories, motivations, and depth. Wiig and Mumolo aren’t winning Oscars for this, or even getting nominated as they once were for writing Bridesmaids, but I found myself smiling from ear-to-ear through this whole damn thing.

Wiig is Star, Mumolo is Barb. Barb is widowed and Star divorced. Together, they are the best of friends, living together since the end of their marriages. They work at a furniture store where they often gossip and share tea on a display couch. The boss, who doesn’t even know if Barb or Star are working on a given day because they are always together, informs them that the store is closing, their jobs are lost, and they need to figure out next steps.

A random encounter with an old friend (Wendi McClendon-Covey, the first of many cameos) informs them of a getaway off the coast of Florida known as Vista Del Mar. And so they are off; to experience a lavish, luxurious vacation to recharge and find themselves all over again.

Unfortunately, they will be caught up in a nefarious plot by Sharon, a megalomaniacal villainess (Wiig, in pure white cake makeup and a Willy Wonka-like demeanor), who has genetically modified mosquitos to sting and kill anything they encounter. Her scheme, to be hatched out at the Vista Del Mar annual Seafood Jam, and orchestrated by Edgar (Jamie Dornan), her smitten henchman, is straight out of something from The Naked Gun or Austin Powers. Obviously, the worlds of Barb, Star, Edgar, and Sharon will collide but not before we get musical numbers, a lounge singer regaling about his love of female breasts, and a frenzied comedic film that never pauses to take a breath.

The debut film by Josh Greenbaum finds the director game to the challenge of keeping up with all the ideas and thoughts Wiig and Mumolo have thrown his way. Admittedly, the film takes a minute to get rolling, but Greenbaum keeps pace with his creative collaborators and the rollercoaster of pastel-colored insanity rolls on and on.

The vivid palette of colors throughout the film showcases beautiful set design by Mariana Castañeda and production design by Steve Sakald. Let’s also mention a rather dazzling production number when Wiig and Mumolo arrive at their hotel; a Busby Berkeley-style song-and-dance performance with a comical twist. Later, Dornan himself, far removed from the albatross of the Fifty Shades franchise, is singing, dancing, and emoting through an 1980s-style power ballad with the refrain of “Seagulls in the sand/Can you hear my prayer?”

None of this should work at all, which is why most of it works so incredibly well. The untethered comedy may be a bit too ambitious, even frustrating for some, and the film itself runs too long at 106 minutes. And yet, I have not had a movie make me consistently chuckle and laugh out loud as much as this in a long, long time.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan, Damon Wayans Jr., Reyn Doi, Michael Hitchcock, Vanessa Bayer, Wendi McClendon-Covey, Fortune Feimster, Phyllis Smith, Mark Jonathan Davis, Andy Garcia, Reba McEntire

Director: Josh Greenbaum
Written by: Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
Release Date: February 12, 2021
Lionsgate