Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, Wonder Woman 1984) and Annie Mumolo (This Is 40 ) — the Oscar nominated writing duo behind the 2011 box office hit Bridesmaids — are reunited in this flawed absurdist comedy courtesy of director Josh Greenbaum (Too Funny to Fail).
Produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Margot Hand, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar stars co-writers Wiig and Mumolo as two best friends from a small midwestern town who embark on the adventure of a lifetime after booking a holiday to Florida.
Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig) are left in shock when the store they’ve worked at together for most their lives suddenly closes leaving them jobless and with a lot more time on their hands. After weighing up their options, the duo settle for a holiday to Florida to get away from their humdrum lives. They soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love and an evil villain’s plot to kill everyone at the sunny resort — but can they thwart the plan before it’s too late?
As much as it pains me to say it, Barb and Star is simply nowhere near as funny as its trailer would have you believe. There are moments of joyous high camp and a commendable Kitschy quality about it, and that is all very much welcome, but with a duo this funny and this talented one would have expected something a great sight more entertaining than whatever this is. Beside the usual deadpan and cartoonish Saturday Night Live-style deliveries we’ve come to expect from Wiig — which function brilliantly in that setting - the film often fails to make a convincing argument for its existence.
