In spirit “Spa Weekend” can be placed alongside “Bachelor Party in Vegas”, “Bad Moms”, “Bachelorette Party in Vegas”, “Very Bad Girls”, “Hardened Swindlers” and at times even “Girls Trip”.
And that is no surprise: the film was made by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the screenwriters of “Bachelor Party in Vegas” and the creators of “Bad Moms.” So everything here is recognizable: a grown-up group of friends, a bit of madness, crude jokes, alcohol, awkward situations and the feeling that a respectable vacation has once again taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Starring — Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Anna Faris and Michelle Buteau. And it is the actresses, in our view, who are the film's main asset. They have a wonderful feel for comedy, work well together and often carry even the simplest jokes on sheer charisma.
Isla Fisher is especially good: critics also noted her frantic comic energy. Anna Faris is traditionally magnificent as the person who seems to be trying to keep things normal while everything around her gradually turns into a circus.
Yet critics received the film rather coolly.
On Rotten Tomatoes it currently has around 30% positive critics' reviews, while Metacritic shows roughly 33 points out of 100. The main complaint is always the same: a magnificent comedy cast got material that is too predictable and not always funny enough.
The New York Times also noted that the actresses are very strong, but the script does not always match their capabilities. The Los Angeles Times effectively reached a similar conclusion: the quartet of comedy actresses works better than the script itself.
But the most interesting thing is — audiences turned out to be noticeably kinder than critics.
On Rotten Tomatoes the audience rating stands at around 74%, meaning the public on the whole took the film exactly as it probably should be taken: not as a new great comedy, but as light viewing for an evening — to watch with company, laugh and forget about life's seriousness for an hour and a half.
On IMDb the score is more modest — around 5,4/10, but even there it is clear that the film distinctly divides its audience: some find the humour too familiar and predictable, while others need exactly that kind of format.
And here we are rather on the side of the second group.
Yes, "Spa Weekend" does not quite reach the level of "The Hangover" or "Bridesmaids". The jokes sometimes miss the mark, some moments are too predictable, and there is definitely no great comedic discovery here.
But as a light, wild comedy with excellent actresses — it works quite well.
Gaya's rating: 7.3/10.
Not a masterpiece and not a future classic of the genre, but you can have a very pleasant evening. Especially if you want a film where no one saves the world, and adults simply are very bad at relaxing properly. 😄
