Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
“Barb and Star proves that comedy doesn’t have to be offensive to make people laugh.”
Title: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
Director: Josh Greenbaum 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Annie Mumolo 👩🏼🇺🇸 and Kristen Wiig 👩🏼🇺🇸
Reviewed by Alicja Johnson 👩🏼🇺🇸
Note: This review was commissioned by Lionsgate. The content and methodology remain 100% independent and in line with Mediaversity's non-commissioned reviews.
Technical: 5/5
A decade ago, Bridesmaids (2011) knocked our socks off with unrestrained comedy. And now, the Oscar-nominated dream team brings us a new treat: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. It was well worth the wait.
Writers Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig play Barb and Star, respectively, two best friends from the Midwest who contentedly enjoy their small town life. All they need is each other; they even share a bedroom. But after realizing they’ve lost their zest for life—what they call their “shimmer”—Barb and Star decide to finally vacation outside of Nebraska. Destination: Vista Del Mar, Florida. But upon arrival, the friends find themselves embroiled in a nasty plot to rain death by mosquitoes upon the resort’s unsuspecting residents.
Unhinged comedies à la Austin Powers are less common these days, perhaps because the genre often depends on lewd, misogynistic, insensitive, and plainly offensive content that we’ve thankfully started to leave behind. Unfortunately, some creators have claimed that such progress means that “comedies don’t work anymore.” Yet Barb and Star refreshingly proves this notion wrong with humorous sensibilities that build upon (and ultimately outdo) most of the absurdist comedies that came before it. The non-stop jokes come from a place of kindness and positivity, like when Star proudly showcases her secret talent for greeting card poems with an umbrella metaphor that’s both funny and good advice. Outfitted with this hilarity and a vibrant color palette, the movie makes it impossible for viewers to feel anything less than elated. Mumolo and Wiig flawlessly slip into their flowing culottes, playing Barb and Star with such conviction that it’s easy to keep up with their ridiculous dialogue and strange logic. The film is simply good for the soul.
Gender: 5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
Even following blockbusters like Girls Trip (2017) or Booksmart (2019), nearly every buddy comedy centers on friendships between men, or sometimes boys. But Barb and Star squarely prioritizes the growth of its leading ladies, as each one learns that she can have fun individually without compromising their strong shared bond. Considering how rarely we see stories about healthy female friendships, it feels revolutionary to get a movie anchored in the companionship between two women.
Barb and Star also reflects Hollywood's increasing willingness to show women breaking social norms. The friends talk about some “unladylike” things like having the hots for Mr. Peanut and dealing with travel diarrhea. On top of this, Barb and Star casually have a threesome with the villain’s right-hand man Edgar (Jamie Dornan), which the film treats with impressive nonchalance.
Edgar’s relationship with the villain, Sharon Gordon Fisherman, also played by Wiig, makes for a nice gender role reversal. Sharon is the evil mastermind behind the “death by mosquitoes” plot and Edgar, her henchman, is head over heels for her. He agrees to help her destroy Vista Del Mar so that she’ll honor her promise that they will become an “official couple” after the plot succeeds. This counters most fictional heterosexual romances that treat men as reluctant to commit, and women as needy or overbearing. Edgar seems in touch with his feelings in a way that models the emotional sensitivity that men are sadly socialized to avoid.
Race: 2.5/5
Perhaps due to its all-white creative team, Barb and Star largely excludes people of color from the narrative. Yes, Damon Wayans Jr. is hilarious as an incompentent secret agent, and young Japanese American actor Reyn Doi steals several scenes playing the evil accomplice. But other than these two characters, the only people of color appear behind the bar, serving drinks to the white leads. Removing Wayans and Doi from the movie entirely would hardly impact the plot—condemning evidence that their delightful characters didn’t get their due.
Played by Cuban American actor Andy García, the character Tommy Bahama also produces some discomfort. In his scene, Bahama imparts wisdom upon Barb before disappearing into the bulrushes amid background music reminiscent of Native American flutes. This tired trope of referencing Indigenous spiritualism to evoke a mood falls flat, not only because García isn’t Native American, but also due to Hollywood’s history of using Indigenous religions as plot devices as the country sought to destroy these cultures.
Bonus for Body Diversity: +1.00
Even as Hollywood slowly becomes more inclusive where gender and race are concerned, the industry still restricts most female characters to a certain physique: skinny (unless their weight plays into the story, that is). While there’s nothing wrong with being skinny, when nearly every character on screen is thin, it can be detrimental to how people feel about their own bodies. So it’s great to see Annie Mumolo, who’s larger than the typical movie protagonist, play a leading role in Barb and Star. Her weight has nothing to do with the film, and it’s exactly the type of representation that “can promote body acceptance and reinforce self-esteem,” according to UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers.
Deduction for Disability: -0.50
Meanwhile the character of Sharon Gordon Fisherman, played by Kristen Wiig in head-to-toe white paint, is less inclusive. Fisherman seeks revenge for the bullying she endured due to a fictional condition, "pigmentatia degenera hysterica white skinica," which makes her skin pale and extremely sensitive to sunlight. Although imaginary, her condition mirrors albinism in appearance and symptoms and it’s a genetic disorder that cinema usually bestows upon villains. The “evil albino” trope encourages stigma and discrimination against people with albinism, and it’s unconscionable that Hollywood continues perpetuating it in 2021.
Mediaversity Grade: B+ 4.33/5
Progress toward inclusive moviemaking remains slow, and nothing proves that more than the way Barb and Star uplifts women in comedy while simultaneously diminishing characters of color and those with albinism. Despite these diversity missteps, Mumolo and Wiig deserve ample credit for disproving the claim that comedy must be offensive to make people laugh.
Like Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar? Try these other sunny vacations gone sideways.
Palm Springs (2020)
Summer of 85 (2020)
The Weekend (2019)