Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Lionsgate | Release Date (Streaming): February 12, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
9
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ScreenCrushMatt SingerFeb 11, 2021
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar isn’t a movie, it’s a wavelength. You either get on it or you don’t. I’m sure some viewers will complain that Barb and Star are so quirky and chipper that they’re annoying, or that the film’s comedy is too bizarre and random. Take my advice: Cut those people out of your life. You don’t need to associate yourself with anyone who is that wrong about something this important. Read full review
95
PolygonMatt PatchesFeb 12, 2021
The new comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar cashes in all the mainstream cred accrued by writer-actors Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo after the phenomenon of Bridesmaids, then puts it toward the greatest use of all: silly, bizarre, ecstatic jokes. Read full review
91
ConsequenceJosh SpiegelFeb 14, 2021
It’s been far too long — or it seems like it — since we got a full-throated, ridiculous comedy in theaters. Though it’s a real shame that Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar isn’t going to play to sold-out crowds, it deserves to live on as a cult classic. Read full review
90
IGNKristy PuchkoFeb 19, 2021
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is extraordinary because – like its fluffy-haired heroines – it makes no apologies for what it is. Mumolo and Wiig have created a story that is proudly deranged, setups that are savagely silly, and centered all that around two delightfully daffy caricatures of middle-aged women that feel fresh yet familiar. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 12, 2021
Comedy being what it is, your mileage may vary, but for me the pure candy-colored exuberant silliness of Barb and Star didn't just make me laugh. It provided solace, too. Read full review
88
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 11, 2021
All comedy is subjective, of course, and Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is aggressive in being true to itself and its own vision. Those not on board will roll their eyes and wonder what the fuss is about, while fans will watch it repeatedly, quote it forever, and dress as the characters for Halloween. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBrian ShaerJul 14, 2021
Much like the dynamite ladies that Mumolo and Wiig wrote and refreshingly bring to life, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is shimmery, vibrant, and as welcoming as a great big hug. Read full review
80
EmpireBen TravisFeb 12, 2021
A very different take on female friendship than Bridesmaids, this has future cult favourite written all over it. As bright and breezy as a pair of pastel culottes. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 12, 2021
Think of one of Wiig’s closer-to-1 a.m. Saturday Night Live sketches coloured with the purposefully unpalatable aesthetic sensibilities of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and you’ll start to form the right picture. If none of the above appeals or even makes sense in the slightest, then feel free to run far, far away. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 11, 2021
The comedy doesn’t build so much as it drones on, understated in form but preposterous in content. It wins us over not so much through belly laughs but by making us feel like we’re privy to a wonderfully bizarre in-joke. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenFeb 14, 2021
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a pair of performances—no, it’s really a singular, joint performance—like what we get from Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFeb 11, 2021
This kitschy, weirdo movie has such a bizarre clarity of vision about what it wants to do that a few biffed jokes are almost part of its charm, like its sketch-comedy accents and intentional defiance of logic. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 11, 2021
It seems odd to deem any film an instant cult classic, but “Barb and Star” is such a giddy outlier, a dense, flawed assemblage of zany humor that people will happily tear into for years to come. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattFeb 11, 2021
Like some of the old-timey classics it recalls — Blazing Saddles, Airplane, the first Austin Powers — Barb and Star commits to its deep silliness so sweetly and completely that you can't help falling a little bit in love with them too. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshFeb 11, 2021
This friendship comedy in which best friends Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig), do, indeed, go to Vista Del Mar, is so outrageously infectious the only choice is to submit to its kooky charms. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 11, 2021
An unapologetically delirious frolic in which lifelong friendship is tested by romance, adventure and the mass-extermination plan of an archvillain, this disarming escape to turquoise waters and a seafood buffet will be just what many folks need right now. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 11, 2021
It’s the bright and daffy absurdist spinoff that these weren’t-but-could-have-been-sketch-comedy characters deserve, and it feels, in its modestly clever and diverting way, just right. Read full review
63
The Associated PressMark KennedyFeb 12, 2021
The film nicely sends up spy capers, Broadway and buddy movies and is a lot like its two leading characters: Kindly, a little silly and as sweet as a candy-colored drink at the pool bar. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansFeb 14, 2021
The sci-fi stuff is tedious, but Wiig and Mumolo are bawdy and brilliant as ever, their effortless chemistry bolstered by years of collaboration. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 11, 2021
While unlikely to steer future comedy in any direction you could identify – it’s barely in control of its own running time, frankly – the film is genuinely silly, at a time when silliness is quite welcome. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaFeb 11, 2021
“Barb and Star” offers a mixed bag of laughs, often feeling like a Frankenstein assembly of various sketches. Still, I can’t help but admire its commitment to the act, and its gloriously unhinged absurdity. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeFeb 11, 2021
It’s a breeze of a watch and with the bar for studio comedy being so very low right now, it’s at least mildly inventive and likably goofy, enough to warrant a cautious recommendation (premium rental price: no, next time you’re on a plane: sure). Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleFeb 12, 2021
Had the creative team sharpened the focus just a little – and perhaps cast someone a bit more charismatic than, well, whatever it is that Dornan is doing – there’s a chance Barb and Star could’ve been a Popstar-esque revelation for these characters. As it stands, though, Wiig and Mumolo have crafted a cute little comedy that seems destined to be a cult classic for a lot of moviegoers. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 11, 2021
Wiig and Mumolo work so easily and smoothly together, you feel like an ingrate for not enjoying their efforts more in these script circumstances (especially since they wrote it). Now and then, though, the payoffs arrive. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 11, 2021
The funny bits drift past their payoff, the pace flags (88 minute movie stretched out to 107) and the light, tongue-in-cheek tone, the riffing banter between the leads isn’t enough to save it. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneJessica KiangFeb 12, 2021
The purposely messy, garish and disposable comedy from Bridesmaids writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who also star as the fortysomething Midwesterners of the title, is so determinedly low-stakes that to quibble with its candy-colored craving to be liked is to be a terrible killjoy. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 11, 2021
From a bizarre villain to unexpected musical numbers, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is egregiously bad, but with splashes of occasional humor. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeAllyson JohnsonFeb 12, 2021
For all its sugary sweet coating, this movie is nothing more than mindless, mundane distraction. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDavid RobbFeb 11, 2021
Best exemplified by its fixation on culottes, the film never feels like more than a half-formed in-joke between close friends. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezFeb 14, 2021
Look, America certainly needs relief, support, escape, and laughter, yes, but good god, ‘Barb & Star’ is not it. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 25, 2021
The goal here was to be absurdist, relentless and light. Well, Barb & Star is light — so light it floats off and vaporizes. Read full review
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