Girls Trip is a road trip comedy directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Lifestyle expert Ryan Pierce is offered a chance to promote her brand at a music festival in New Orleans. Pierce and her 3 other lifelong friends, known as the Flossy Posse, have grown apart over time. To rekindle their friendship, she decides to turn the work trip into a girls’ trip.
The story is a bit straightforward and reminiscent of other road trip films. Girls Trip has no surprises outside of the level of raunchiness it brings. It’s a paint-by-the-numbers cliché riddled romcom road trip movie. There are no surprises outside of blatant product placements, mainly for the Essence Music Festival and Cîroc Vodka. The lightweight script, unnecessarily long scenes and the run time, all drags the pacing of the film.
Comedy wise there are some pretty funny moments. I don’t understand this film being considered a surprise comedy hit. Girls Trip is filled with talent and this comedy is not outside of their wheelhouse. Most of the cast have worked with each other in the past, so it wasn’t hard for them to establish chemistry. The runaway of the Girls Trip was Tiffany Haddish. Not a shocker, as she has been killing it in comedies lately. At times when the film got boring she kept it going.
Girls Trip has some outlandish moments, but for the most part you have seen this film as it’s a collection of other road trip and romcoms. Due to weak premise some scenes drag. It could have benefited being 10-15 minutes shorter to make a tighter stronger film. I enjoyed watching Girls Trip, it had a great ensemble and it had humor I enjoyed. Girls Trip isn’t all that special and could have been a better film. Still, if you need a fix of raunchy over the top comedy, watch it for Tiffany Haddish.
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 2 hr 2 min
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Screenplay: Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver
Cast: Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Larenz Tate, Mike Colter and Kate Walsh
Producers: Will Packer and Malcolm D. Lee
Music: David Newman
Cinematography: Greg Gardiner