Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar Parent Guide
It's un-funny and deeply awkward, which is a losing combination for any comedy.
Parent Movie Review
Although they’ve enjoyed their lives in a small Midwestern town, Barb (Annie Mumolo) and Star (Kristen Wiig) are seeing more and more reasons to leave. They’ve lost their jobs, they’ve been kicked out of their “Talking Club”, and their friend Mickey (Wendi McLendon-Covey) just came back from Vista Del Mar singing the resort town’s praises. With their severance pay, Barb and Star jump on a plane headed for sunny Florida. At first, it’s everything they hoped it would be – but a chance encounter with Edgar (Jamie Dornan) causes the two to start keeping secrets from each other, even lying for the first time in their relationship. And Edgar has a dark secret of his own, which threatens everyone in Vista Del Mar…
This is a truly dazzling display of middle-class white suburban inanity. You want to imagine what watching this movie feels like? Imagine if someone took an Applebee’s from Wisconsin, liquefied it, and then gently poured it over your brain for about 2 hours. I feel like I have this sort of oily film stuck to my neurons. I don’t know what it’s going to take to clean it off, but I don’t expect it’ll be gone for at least a week.
If that was the point of the movie, director Josh Greenbaum nailed it. On the off-chance that he had greater ambitions than producing an agonizingly embarrassing, cringe-inducing cinematic disaster, this is a catastrophic failure. It’s simultaneously un-funny and deeply awkward, which is a less-than-winning combination for a comedy. I genuinely don’t know who this movie is intended for. Teenagers don’t find this kind of thing funny anymore, adults certainly don’t, and I doubt your grandparents are looking for something with quite this many sex jokes.
Most of the negative content in this production boils down to those sex jokes, which are wincingly crude without being the least amusing. Mostly, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is infuriating. The characters have the collective IQ of a pot of boiled cabbage and half the personality. Apart from having semi-public sex with strangers, I’m struggling to figure out what any of these people do when they’re not spawning or battling cartoonishly evil plots. I honestly can’t understand why this movie even exists. I’d say this it’s a good movie to fall asleep to, but it’s far too irritating for that. Best case scenario? Just never watch this movie.
Directed by Josh Greenbaum. Starring Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan. Running time: 107 minutes. Theatrical release February 12, 2021. Updated October 2, 2021Watch the trailer for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Rating & Content Info
Why is Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar rated PG-13? Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude sexual content, drug use and some strong language
Violence: Some people are killed by mosquitoes. A woman scratches her arm falling off a bike. Individuals are threatened with hungry alligators. A character is knocked out with a jar. Two people have a fight on the beach.
Sexual Content: Several characters are shown having a menage-a-trois. Characters are depicted having sex in a variety of public locations, including their hotel room balcony and the beach. There are repeated crude sexual references.
Profanity: There are five uses of scatological profanity and infrequent use of mild profanities and terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Characters are shown drinking to excess. They are also depicted as taking mysterious pills in combination with huge volumes of alcohol. An individual is briefly shown smoking.
Page last updated October 2, 2021