Barb & Star Head to the Vista Del Mar Review: a comedy masterpiece ready for cult status

The new comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar takes all the regular credit written-actors Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo after the phenomenon of Bridesmaids, then uses it for its greatest use: silly, bizarre, ecstatic jokes.

The bits run with extreme confidence; when the couple stretches out in khaki culottes and life-size perms, it’s like they’ve been performing for the past 10 years on SNL like the two twinkling middle-aged Midwesterners. But like Austin Powers or Andy Samberg Pop star alter ego Connor4Real, Wiig and Mumolo only invented Barb and Star for one ridiculous adventure in the sun. Also as Austin Powers and Pop star, that kind of daring twinge often only finds recognition in the years after the flop. We won’t know if the movie would have had the same box-office issues in its originally planned theatrical release (COVID lockdowns send it straight to VOD services), but, come on, we knowFate makes Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar a cult film on arrival waiting to be discovered.

After losing their jobs at Jennifer’s Convertibles, best friends Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig) find themselves in an existential crisis. Not only did they rely on the dining set in the furniture store’s store to hold Thanksgiving dinner, but their business was to sell sofas targetLying about their firings to their friends and getting started by Talking Club (“Talking Club’s First Rule: Always Tell the Truth”) only accelerates their depression spiral. When a friend returns from an invigorating Florida vacation, the women fly him from Soft Rock, Nebraska, to Vista Del Mar for sun, sand, and possible intercourse with a man. “Smells like red lobster!” Barb proclaims paradise.

Photos: Cate Cameron / Lionsgate

What Wiig and Mumolo deliver for 90 minutes can only be described as comical off-roading. Whether it’s improvisation or the result of years in each other’s heads, the material radiates from the screen. The two actors chat in character about everything from raccoon sleep patterns to labia piercings and the high art of lounge singer Richard Cheese. And yet it is all precise; Mumolo knows just the right way to say “Don Chee-adle?” and Wiig has the perfect wide-eyed look to shoot back in agreement. When they hit the dance floor to rock to a club remix of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” those strange sensibilities flood the screen. They’ve made a film that really suits them, and everything from the pastel production design to the punctuation camera work is on their peculiar wavelength.

Unexpectedly, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar Wiig offers one second role: Sharon Gordon Fisherman, an evil albino mastermind with a thirst for revenge against Vista Del Mar. Assisted by her kidnapped child Yo-Yo (Reyn Doi) and her number two, Edgar (Jamie Dornan), who hopes one day to achieve “official couple status with his boss, Sharon plots to destroy the coastal community by a wave. of deadly mosquitoes. Wiig plays the culprit as equal parts Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka, who winds up a storm as she watches Edgar carry out her plan – or try it. The henchman eventually catches the attention of Barb and Star, and as the two compete for his affection, he is equally intoxicated by the prospect of true love. It’s the perfect role for Dornan, whose quintessentially stoic persona melts away to reveal a smitten romantic who will sing a tune to express his love. Yes, of course this movie has a great beach musical number.

Photo: Cate Cameron / Lionsgate

The absurdist logic of Barb & Star gives way to what I can only assume are Wiig and Mumolo’s wildest dreams – and it’s fantastic to watch them come to life without hesitation. After the success of Bridesmaids, it was never entirely clear which boxes the employees would be filling. Wiig became an unlikely indie darling in movies like Welcome to me The Skeleton Twins, and The diary of a teenage girl, while Hollywood hoped to hook it up to IP vehicles like GhostbustersMumolo was kidding her Bridesmaids screenplay Oscar nom in both writing appearances (she wrote the early versions of the Jennifer Lawrence drama Joy before David O. Russell took over and maimed it into the final product) and a string of TV work, but nothing on the scale of her blockbuster comedy. Barb & Star sees the convention wall crumble, allowing two Groundlings veterans to enter their natural habitat. “Your dong went all the way up and touched my heart” feels like a phrase someone has been eager to deliver since day one.

Freedom leads to excess. The good kind. From spy movies to asides on Pringles Can Man intercourse, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar put it all down, as if Wiig and Mumolo know this is their only chance to be themselves. Fortunately, for fans of blatantly dumb humor, there are no hard times. For viewers who aren’t, the whole thing can be … a tough ride. Perhaps Barb best articulates it by describing her wild, bumpy banana boat ride: “It’s a real titflapper!”

Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar opens February 12 on PVOD platforms.