With Jim Sabatini

Girls Trip

Rated: R for crude and sexual content throughout, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity and drug material.
Reviewed by: Jim
Release date: July 21, 2017	Released by: Universal Studios, Inc.

Enjoyable, if extended adult tale of sisterhood and hedonism puts the recent Rough Night to shame in what will surely please distaff audiences looking for a good time.

Malcolm D. Lee's Girls Trip stars Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and relative newcomer Tiffany Haddish.

The tale centers around the lifelong friends reuniting for a journey to Essence Festival where they can live it up in the Big Easy.

Latifah and Hall are Sasha and Ryan, exuding steely confidence and up to a challenge. Pinkett-Smith's motherly Lisa has an innocent-like quality, but gravitating towards feisty fun. Haddish's Dina offers some of the best uproarious moments with outrageous insouciance.

Lee (Undercover Brother ,Barbershop: The Next Cut) makes it work by mostly keeping men and relationships on the back-burner and showcasing the obvious sparks between the cast with a palpable bond evident within relatable, credible characters with foibles and vulnerabilities, As well as strengths as a later affecting, sincere speech demonstrates.

What is raunchy, if empowering, a disarming blend of heart and humor has some memorable interludes including a zip line, absinthe and grapefruit with Latifah and Pinkett-Smith reuniting from the partners-in-crime flick Set It Off from F. Gary Gray. Girls Trip ignites from its game performs and the pretty easygoing direction of Lee with Haddish holding more than her own proving to be a talent on the rise like Melissa McCarthy from Bridesmaids.