I did not have the slightest interest in seeing Girls Trip because I do not enjoy the girl movie ghetto that believes that girls being just as naughty as guys partying genre is innately funny. I was tempted to theoretically encourage Hollywood studios to make more movies with black women in the lead, but once I saw that it was doing well in the summer box office, it simultaneously alleviated my need to financially support the film and increased my curiosity to see what made it appeal to so many viewers, but not enough to actually go and see it. After I saw an article titled “Hollywood Made a White Version and a Black Version of the Same Movie,” which compared trailers for Rough Night and Girls Trip, I was sufficiently intrigued enough to put both films in my queue.
Even though Girls Trip did not successfully convert me into an adherent of the genre, it did succeed at making me sufficiently invested in the characters to care about what happened to them in the movie even when my eyes glazed over during sequences primarily devoted to tripping. The four characters are immediately credible as real people and lifelong friends though their triumphs and tribulations are not free of cliché. Regina Hall plays a seemingly successful self-help guru, Ryan. Queen Latifah plays a once respected journalist turned tabloid blogger Sasha. Jada Pinkett Smith, whom I began to love in Gotham, continues to give me life as straight-laced mom and nurse, Lisa. Tiffany Haddish, the breakout star and comedian, plays the wild and reckless, but loving and loyal Dina. The chemistry and ease of the cast, the production value and the feasible setting of the film puts it another galaxy apart from Rough Night. Even in terms of comparing dance sequences, the difference is stark.
One aspect of the genre that I have always found alienating is how all the friends are game to be wild from jump, but in this movie, there are different levels and not everyone is on the same page at the same time. Sometimes people clutch their pearls before loosening up, which makes subsequent shenanigans funnier. Also these characters are constantly aware of the real life consequences of their behavior and extricate themselves in plausible ways. Girls Trip never loses sight of the fact that they are black women. They are concerned about their careers, their finances and their personal lives, and the harbinger of consequences raises the stakes in the film in a way that does not usually happen in its counterparts, which makes me lose interest in the story. Even though the guru is famous and successful, when the crap hits the fan, she is the one forced to leave the hotel, and she and her friends still get propositioned.
On my best day, I am not a fraction as attractive as Pinkett or as adventurous as the character that she plays, but Girls Trip is the first time that I saw this type of film and thought, “I would do that” or “THAT has happened to me.” From staying hydrated to her appalled reaction at others taking drugs or being completely out of fashion step, I am Lisa. When she inevitably gets turnt, she cracked me up and had me cheering at some of her one-liners that would make no sense out of context. There is one reference to Set It Off that had me howling and I’m sure made the theater go wild. The movie was able to frequently make cultural references that rested on the star power of its cast without sacrificing the integrity of the narrative.
Girls Trip relies on the fundamental tension of friendship, being able to know the other person so well that you can no longer lie to yourself and are forced to confront less than desirable truths about how you are settling for less in life, without descending into mean spiritedness like Rough Night did. Because of the nudity, sexual situations, drug and alcohol use and profanity, I would not recommend it to anyone who would potentially be offended, but it may be the best of its genre for remaining rooted in reality, character chemistry and development.