"Girls Trip" is headed by an all black female cast, filled with powerhouse talent like no other. Queen Latifah, and Jada Pinkett-Smith star in the film, to name a bit of the amazing talent. This year has been filled with some great and critically successful entertainment headed by either POC actors, and or women. "Get Out", "Dear White People", and "Wonder Woman" have all done amazing in their own right.
Exploring distant relationships
The movie is an accurate portrayal on friends who lost touch after several years and a huge disagreement, that's only alluded to until the final act.
They have all recently reached a plateau in their careers and lives. One recently being fired from her job after comically fighting a coworker over her lunch (which we later find out was a simple Go-gurt and it wasn't the first time it had happened). While exiting her office she whispers in her distraught coworker's ear "Snitches get stitches."
The movie reaches its endearingly awkward stride with the girls reconnecting by taking a trip to New Orleans for "Essence Fest", a black female empowerment convention. Ryan, powerfully portrayed by Regina Hall is the keynote speaker. She is deceptively the most successful of the four girls and is footing the bill for the long overdue trip. She is touted as the second coming of "Oprah", she preaches the slogan "You Can Have it All", alongside her mutually successful husband.
Eye of the storm
As the trip picks up pace, the character's insecurities and lives begin to unravel, and in turn their friendships. Deena the wildfire of the group provides laughs and genuine heartfelt moments in excess and is the breakaway star of the movie. She is that one friend in everyone's life that is never quiet, grew up but still has everything turn out relatively alright.
One night we see it implied that her faith is the source of her good fortune, because though she is a lot of trouble, "Jesus loves her too". The following day she acquires absinthe and laces the girls signature "Hurricane" drink into "Tsunamis"
The girls go out to have a good time as Ryan tries to seal a multi-million dollar business opportunity, for herself and her less than perfect husband.
The camera begins to blur and slow as the rest of the cast realizes "the Tsunami has hit". What follows is three separate and hilarious hallucination scenes, ending in the girls saving Ryan as her meeting is seemingly falling apart under the influence of the "Tsunami".
The third act comes through with the girls getting into a huge disagreement surrounding current events, tying into larger unresolved issues from the past. The crew parts ways as Ryan's personal life is dragged into the public eye, in big celebrity scandal fashion. The girls one by one decide to put their differences aside and come together to help Ryan through this difficult time even though they might not be on the best of terms.
The Movie concludes with the keynote speech in which Ryan is supposed to dissuade belief in the scandal and instead uses the opportunity to elevate her platform. Giving the audience a powerful message of solidarity, strength, transparency, and beauty for women of color everywhere.
"Girls Trip" is a powerful and hilarious movie with great humor and an even greater relatable message. I give it 8 gut wrenching laughs out of 10. Over its opening weekend, the film broke the R-rated comedy curse by making its entire budget back and then some. Here's hoping for more great times with this spectacular cast of characters
