“Girls Trip” has taken the box office by storm. The heart-warming comedy entails the crazy getaway trip four gal pals go on to attend the annual Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. The fierce ladies, better known as the “Flossy Posse,” encounter a wild weekend filled with booze, hookups, insane adventures and learning the true meaning of friendship.
As the ladies gear up to celebrate the festivities at Essence, Flossy Posse member and sensational internet blogger Sasha (Queen Latifah) discovers some devastating news about one of her friends. Self-made entrepreneur and bestselling author Ryan (Regina Hall) is being cheated on by her husband, Mike. Sasha and the rest of the girls break the news to Ryan, hoping that she leaves Mike and his cheating ways for good. However, Ryan insists that her marriage with Mike is fine and that news of his infidelity would ruin her brand and upcoming appearance at the Essence festival. Nonetheless, the girl squad continues to live it up as they hit the upbeat streets of New Orleans.
The laugh-out-loud film consists of a balance of smiles, tears, reflection and authenticity that each character delivers. Witty and hilarious Dina (Tiffany Haddish) steals the show with her outspoken personality and no-nonsense attitude. In fact, Dina is the main one pushing Ryan to end her rocky marriage. On the opposite end of things, there’s the reserved and conventional Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith). The single mother of two gets her groove back, thanks to the help of her girlfriends, and even finds herself a hot new boy-toy. As the crew bonds and has a blast like old times, conflict starts to arise.
As Ryan’s keynote speaker appearance gets closer, news of her husband’s cheating begins to surface. To Ryan’s surprise, Mike’s mistress Simone unexpectedly shows up to the festival. Simone threatens Sasha to leak the pictures of her and Mike together or else she’ll take matters into her own hands. Soon enough, the pictures leak and cause a huge media frenzy. Furious, Ryan takes her frustration out on Sasha and accuses her of leaking the pictures to gain traffic on her blog site. Hurt by Ryan’s words, all the girls get into a huge argument that creates a drift and questioning of the entire friendship.
In an effort to make things right, Sasha clears the air and issues an apology on her blog, stating that she wasn’t the one who released those pictures and that her intentions were never to hurt Ryan. The Flossy Posse make up by surprising Ryan and attending her keynote event. There is where she finally reveals that the allegations of her husband’s infidelity are true. She addressed the audience and said realizing her self-worth and identity were far more important than maintaining a false image of a “perfect marriage.” Reunited once again, the Flossy Posse is back in action and closer than ever before.
“Girls Trip” is a great film to end your summer with a group of pals. The smash-hit comedy will no doubt have you have laughing, crying and wanting more.
I give the film a five out of five stars.
Niyat Teferi can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter
