BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR — Fruitcake Enterprises

Directing: B
Acting: B+
Writing: B
Cinematography: B
Editing: B

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is the kind of movie you’ll either love or you’ll hate. Or, to be more precise, you’ll either find it so dumb it’s easily dismissed, or you’ll easily give yourself into its uniquely silly sensibility and have a good time. I might be in a minority middle-road category, in that I’ll fully concede it’s dumb, yet I gave into it and had fun anyway.

I do wonder what the hell the elevator pitch for this movie might have been. Sure, many silly comedy movies exist, but I can think of no other that’s quite like this one. It’s a little like an unusually clever Saturday Night Live sketch, the kind whose point seems to be that there is no point and yet it’s somehow amusing anyway. Now, take all that, and add a pinch of tripping on acid.

I hesitate even to offer much in the way of specifics. The “premise,” such as it is, involves best friends Barb and Star (Annie Mumolo and Kristin Wiig), taking a vacation together. Can you guess where? In the movie, it’s a town called Vista Del Mar, in Florida, though no such town actually exists—many resorts by that name do, though none are affiliated with the film. But, whatever: much of the movie was actually filmed in Mexico. It hardly matters, considering how much of the movie feels like a middle-aged divorcée pastel fever dream.

With a script co-witten also by Mumolo and Wiig, the humor is next-level silly. It’s kind of ironic that a movie about middle-aged women should have such “dad joke” energy, but somehow, it works. Most stupid humor, particularly in movie comedies, is just not funny. Here, I laughed with surprising consistency. This would be a testament to the skill of these two performers—not to mention their pull, given the number of people who show up in cameos and smaller supporting parts.

Maybe the biggest surprise is Fifty Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan, shedding his “smoldering sexpot” persona to play a lovable doofus. A close second would be Kristen Wiig again, playing dual parts as both Star and the movie’s uniquely ridiculous supervillain. How Sharon Gordon Fisherman fits into the plot is rather convoluted, as is Dornan’s character’s emotional struggle between her and Star. Damon Wayans Jr. as a clueless spy is a little more on-brand.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is hilarious, and its 107-minute run time could have easily been trimmed down to about ninety, which would have intensified its comic impact. On the other hand, its somewhat leisurely pace is part of the point. What I liked about it was its left-field gags, from Dornan’s musical number singing to seagulls, to a brief scene in which, out of nowhere, a crab just starts talking. These were the kinds of things that cracked me up.

Whatever the case, you really just have to watch this movie to get it. There’s no way to talk about it in a way that conveys what it’s really like, although perhaps watching the trailer comes closest. That said, the trailer elicited more of an “I don’t get it” response. The extent of its sun-lit pastel silliness can only reveal itself when watching the movie in full. It’s actually been available on VOD since February 12, but until this week, the cost was $19.99. I enjoyed this movie, but in no universe is it worth that much money. Now that it’s $5.99, it’s totally worth it. And if you’re looking for absurdist escapism with a genuinely middle-aged-woman sensibility, this is the movie for you. That probably means the audience demographic is indeed middle-aged women, and gay men. But maybe a few others too. Give it a chance!

Overall: B