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Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar | 2021 | PG-13 | – 5.4.5
When two lifelong friends (Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo) of modest aspirations living in a small Midwestern town lose their jobs, they decide on a vacation in Florida’s Vista Del Mar. What they don’t know is that a nefarious mastermind (also Kristen Wiig) plans to destroy the neon idyll. Also with Jamie Dornan, Damon Wayans Jr., Michael Hitchcock, Kwame Patterson, Reyn Doi and the voice of Morgan Freeman. Directed by Josh Greenbaum. [Running Time: 1:47]
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar SEX/NUDITY 5
– A man and two women are shown sleeping piled on top of each other in a bed (it is implied that they had sex in a variety of positions and combinations the night before); the man wears boxer briefs and the women are seen wearing bras and pull the sheets to cover the rest of their bodies. A man and woman lie in bed together covered with sheets; sex is implied (we see her bare shoulders and his bare shoulders, chest and partial abdomen). A man and woman kiss on a hotel balcony and we see their feet and legs moving rhythmically implying that they are having sex as another woman watches them from below. A woman says to a man, “Let’s go make love,” and we see them disheveled and adjusting their clothing implying that they had sex; the woman leaves and comes back seconds later saying, “Let’s do it one more time,” and they kiss as the scene ends.
► A man and woman kiss in the background of a couple of scenes. A man and woman slather suntan lotion on each other at poolside (we see him rubbing her legs and she rubs his chest, shoulders and abdomen) and they kiss. A man and woman kiss and hug. A man and two women dance on a crowded dance floor thrusting their hips toward each other and gyrating; one woman grabs the other woman’s clothed breasts while dancing. A woman lies between another woman’s legs on a bed while they sing and giggle (nothing sexual implied). A woman poses suggestively outside a man’s room and they flirt briefly. A woman knocks on a man’s door and poses suggestively, pulling down her top to reveal cleavage when he opens the door (they then go for a walk). Two women hold hands.
► Two women talk about a night they spent with a man and one makes a comment about having spanked the other woman’s buttocks and about hurting her back doing something. A woman talks about imagining that she had sex with “the man on the Pringles can.” A woman talks about fantasizing about Mr. Peanut. A woman refers to her ex-husband having had an affair with another woman before they were divorced. A welcome song includes lyrics about “ringing your freaking bell.” A woman tells another woman, “You should take a lover on this trip.” A song sung a few times in a bar makes numerous references to breasts, using a variety of euphemisms. A woman writes about “raging with passion.” A woman says of her deceased husband, “He was so manly.” A woman makes up the name of a spy agency and calls it “HPV.” A man talks about a woman seducing him. A woman says, “I got my labia pierced.”
► A flashback shows a man undressing and removing his belt (we see his bare abdomen). Many poolside and beach scenes show men and women wearing swimsuits with varying degrees of nudity (cleavage, bare abdomens, bare backs, partial buttocks and legs); one man wears a small Speed-O-type suit in several scenes and the camera focuses on his crotch a couple of times. A man pulls off his shirt while dancing and singing (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back). A man wears a shirt with a bikini clad woman drawn on the front and the back (cleavage, bare abdomen, bare legs, back and partial buttocks are drawn). A Mr. Peanut character is shown wearing heart-covered boxers and posing suggestively.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar VIOLENCE/GORE 4
– A man is locked in a room and a swarm of mosquitoes attacks him off-screen (we hear him scream and understand that he is dead). A young boy detonates an explosive left on the porch of a house, blowing it up (we see a blast and flames). A woman says that her husband was trampled to death at a store during a sale on TVs. A woman describes her best friend as a child being eaten by an alligator in front of her. A melanin-deficient woman describes being pushed onto a stage during a contest at a fair and that she was crowned the Shrimp Queen while people laughed at her; she was then launched from a cannon and landed nude in a cruise ship swimming pool (we see the flashback and her bare shoulders). A man holds a gun on three people. A man holds a gun on two women and ties them up in a chair. A woman punches two women in the face and they fall unconscious; they wake up on a cliff where the first woman tells them, “You get to choose how you die” and they are approached by two alligators, forcing them to jump as the alligators lunge for them (they are not harmed). A man hits a woman in the head with a bottle knocking her out. A woman is swarmed by a large cloud of mosquitoes and she screams; we see her later with many welts on her face and neck but otherwise unharmed. A woman holds a piece of driftwood and threatens another woman with it; a third woman grabs the wood and throws it away.
► Two women speed on a skidoo into the ocean to dispose of a detonator; another woman launches herself from a cannon and knocks the first two women into the water, and they toss the detonator back and forth. Two women sink underwater and seem to be drowning in order to stay away from a cloud of mosquitoes on the surface; they are then shown being carried on a wave to the shore, unharmed. A young boy walks through a field toward a large tree where a mechanical owl scans him and a door opens in the tree’s trunk; the boy enters and is transported to a lair where along with two men he meets with a woman and they discuss a plot to extinguish a population of people in a town by exposing them to genetically modified lethal mosquitoes. A man polishes a gun in a couple of scenes and hides it in another scene. Two men wrestle on a beach, tumbling with each other repeatedly (there are no injuries). A young boy holds a large gun on a group of people on a beach threatening to shoot and he fires streamers into the air. Two women bury themselves in sand and talk about getting sand in their mouth.
► A woman orders a man to kill two women. A woman yells at a man and calls him names when he has bungled a mission. A man yells at several people and tells two women that they are at the wrong hotel; they plead for a room but are sent away. A woman locks another woman out of her house when she arrives for a meeting seconds after the starting time. A woman prepares herself a drink that she names “A Suicide” (it’s a soft drink). A man spins around while dancing on a beach and drills himself into the sand. A woman climbs out a bathroom window and floats away on a pool float. A man and woman parasail. A woman yells at people snorkeling saying, “There’s a current” and she seems panicked as she enters the water. A woman rides a scooter and jumps a ravine, and she walks on hot coals and does not seem harmed. A woman falls and scratches her elbow (we see blood). Two women yell at each other about lying.
► A woman talks about someone having lost an ear in a tornado. Two women talk about an imaginary woman having committed suicide. A woman lists dangerous things that could happen to them if they take a trip. A painting in the lobby of a motel shows a shark attacking something, with a cloud of blood in the water. A resort manager tells two women that a room has become vacant and says that the family that was staying there went missing; he says, “It’s probably the husband.” A woman talks about being bullied when she was a child and we see other children making fun of her. A young girl is diagnosed with a skin pigmentation disorder and she is told to stay out of the sun; we see her with completely white skin. A man sings a song about friends of his from high school that have all passed away.
► Two women talk about people that “stink.” A woman says, “Men find me disgusting.” Two women talk about ripping a hole in a sofa on display in a furniture store to keep people from buying it, and they say, “Let’s fart on it.” Several people talk and sing about a trip to a Florida resort town being a “Soul-Douche.” A woman takes a bowl of soup from another woman and pours it into her own bowl (it is gray and gloopy) as punishment for breaking her club rules. A woman asks a man, “Are you not going?” and goes on to explain how her stomach is backed up from traveling. We see long hair in a woman’s armpit when she raises her arm. A man talks about selling his feces to farmers as fertilizers when he was young and needed money. Two women bury themselves in sand and talk about getting sand in their mouth.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar LANGUAGE 5
– At least 1 mouthed and 1 not-fully enunciated F-words (a crab with a man’s voice says “‘F’ her over,” and a woman says “The ‘F’ word”), 15 scatological terms, 18 anatomical terms, 11 mild obscenities, name-calling (imbecile, tude, pathetic Stellas, terrible friend, pale girl, bamboozled, liar, lady, weird, traitor, nobody, rude, stupid place full of dummies), exclamations (phew, oh gosh, oh my gosh, freaking’, effin’, fiddlesticks, wow, oh wow, gosh darn it, shoot, oh no), 15 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Oh My God, Oh God, Lord, My God, Oh Thank God, Heaven, Hell). | profanity glossary |
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar SUBSTANCE USE
– A man and two women says that they each took a pill that they found in a treasure chest at the bottom of a giant cocktail (they appear to be under the influence), a man and woman share a marijuana cigarette while parasailing, and a reference is made to a cavity search for drugs. Many scenes show people drinking brightly colored cocktails in a bar and poolside, a man and two women drink a giant cocktail served in a punch bowl at a bar, people drink shots of liquor while dancing in a club, and a man drinks whiskey at a bar. A woman smokes a cigarette while riding a scooter.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Skin pigmentation disorders, melanin deficiency, friendship, evil masterminds, infidelity, death of a loved one, lying, bullying.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar MESSAGE
– Everybody needs friendship and love; leave your colorless town and go for it.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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