GIRLS BEHAVING BADLY

MOVIE
Girls' Trip
Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish
Director Malcolm D Lee
Review Ray Chan


There were two previews on simultaneously: one was the Ryan Reynolds action flick The Hitman’s Bodyguard, the other a film about a group of four girls having the time of their lives.

    This male reviewer opted for the latter, and was left in no doubt that the right choice was made. No matter that the cinema viewing audience was almost entirely made up of females, the movie appeals to all genders and is surely one of the funniest releases this year.
    While this girlfriends-just-want-to-have-fun romp was made on the names of Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Regina Hall, it’s the lesser known light of Tiffany Haddish that shines brightest, with her antics inducing a riot of laughs.
    Taking scenes to the limits of good taste and physical comedy, Haddish generates the lioness’ share of guffaws from the audience, while Hall plays it straight as a best-selling relationship expert who’s being courted for a talk show, and more, with a big payday in the offing.
    As a result, she gets the star-treatment in a trip to New Orleans, in which she takes her three college besties along for company, all of whom are as raucous and rowdy as Hall is classy and quiet.
    They're just in time for the Essence Music Festival, an annual mega-event celebrating black culture and music and featuring the biggest names in entertainment.
    The venue is the scene of a wild night out as the girls settle in firstly to a ramshackle motel room frequented previously by a lady of the night, and then in more luxurious surroundings where they play around with produce in ways that will ensure you never see grapefruit in the same light again.
    There’s no overstating just how good Haddish is. Viewers may not approve of her character’s lifestyle (alcohol, drugs and the next available well-endowed man), but you won’t be able to stop laughing at her zany, in-your-face tomfoolery.
    Even the weaker comic set-pieces, such as one embarrassing incident involving Smith while suspended from a Bourbon Street zip-line, come from a good-natured intent.
    Blessed with great chemistry among the four protagonists, this feel-good film’s virtue is its eagerness to please.
    If you can get over the vulgarity and perhaps shock at seeing how comfortable the sassy quartet are with it all, you’ll want to love the movie as much as it loves you.

#girlstrip