• From the script to the performances to the production design, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is fully committed to its own absurdity.
  • Kristen Wiig deserves much of the credit for the end results here. Wiig has been one of the greatest comediennes for quite some time- and she both co-writes the film and has a duel role as both the villainous Sharon Gordon Fisherman and as the titular Star.
  • Fitting needle drop music choices like “Guilty” from Barbara Streisand and Shania Twain’s “Man! I feel Like a Woman!”
  • Both Wiig and Annie Mumolo (playing Barb- and co-writer here. Mumolo also co-wrote 2011’s Bridesmaids with Wiig) are hilariously rocking their characters’ Midwest roots (and shoulder pads) in first portion of the film. This quickly transitions to the gloriously tacky pastels of Jimmy Buffett’s Florida (Andy Garcia even has a small role as “Tommy Bahama”). The production designer Steve Saklad merits plenty of kudos for his work here. The visual joke pushes Barb and Star past many, many other comedies that fail to offer much of anything visually. It would not be wrong to mention Paddington 2 or even The Grand Budapest Hotel (though not an accomplishment on that level of course) when talking about the use of color here.
  • The results play out like a sort of female version of 2008’s Step Brothers. These are middle-aged women acting ludicrously. Wiig’s Fisherman is like Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers films and her Star is a crazy (way further down the comic spectrum) variation on Marge Gunderson from Fargo.
  • “I like looking at wicker but I don’t like sitting on it”- haha- amen. But not all the gags land (I mean they are flying out 100 miles per hour)- the reoccurring turtle joke misses…. and misses often.
  • Reba McEntire has a small cameo – and that is not actually Morgan Freeman playing the voice of a crab if you’re wondering
  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2021