Girls Trip

Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 1.0

Four long-time friends, TV personality Ryan (Regina Hall), single mom Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith), gossip columnist Sasha (Queen Latifah) and aggressive Dina (Tiffany Haddish), who haven't seen each other in years, decide to reconnect at the Essence Awards being held in New Orleans, but Ryan has a major problem with her cheating husband and they all have deep-seated complaints with each other that they never worked through. It borrows The Hangover-slash-Bridesmaids formula of making the 'friend group' consist of one of each type of personality (the 'wild card,' the 'prude,' the 'alpha,' etc.) but then has them behaving like fools - peeing on bystanders on Bourbon Street, having Ms. Owens kiss a lamp (absinthe containing wormwood does not make you hallucinate - trust me, I've tried), force Tiffany to blow a banana while masturbating it with a grapefruit - all while giving them 'cool slang' to say in the most unconvincing manner ("Turnt!" "Slay!" "Clap! Back!"). It's insulting to both the cast and the viewer, and only once it drops the naked-homeless-man-exposing-himself 'shock' nonsense and starts talking about friendship (sisterhood!) does it feel even semi-real.