In this movie we see lots of dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing for the four lifelong friends as they travel to visit the annual Essence Festival in New Orleans, where they have their sisterhood rekindled and wild sides rediscovered.
In all the ways 'Rough Night' went wrong, 'Girl Trip' goes hilariously right. Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and-yowza!- Tiffany Haddish let laughs bubble out of character instead of blunt-force farce. It makes all the difference.
Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah are as reliable as ever onscreen. And Regina Hall gives one of her best performances as Ryan, who keeps on telling everyone you can "have it all" even as her own marriage tells a different story.
Unfortunately, the jokes stop being funny about 30 minutes before the end credits roll and the character-based elements are never better than overly familiar.
It's already shaping up to be the surprise hit of the summer, which really isn't surprising at all once you've seen it. This is the kind of movie people tell their friends about.
There's nothing embarrassing about the Posse in Girls Trip, which depicts the friendships these characters have sustained not as vestigial remnants, but as a guiding force toward being true to oneself.