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Entertainment

14th Jul 2021

The best comedy of 2021 that you’ve never seen is available to watch at home this week

Rory Cashin

Brought to you by NOW

It comes from the comedic geniuses behind Bridesmaids.

We all need a good laugh this year, to be honest. We all NEED the lols.

And if you’re looking for something completely different to the usual Hollywood comedy set-up, then we can’t recommend Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar enough.

Co-written and co-starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mulomo (who also co-wrote and co-starred in Bridesmaids), they play best friends who decide to go on an all-expenses paid trip to a fancy resort, only to find themselves caught up in the middle of an international espionage plot, headed up by supervillain Sharon Fisherman (who is also played by Wiig).

If you’re thinking “This sounds like A LOT of different kinds of comedies”, then yes, you’re absolutely right, and under normal circumstances, we’d think it might not entirely work out.

It has bits of Zoolander, bits of Anchorman, bits of Austin Powers, but muddles them all together to create its very own concoction, in no small part thanks to Wiig and Mulomo’s wide-eyed optimism and incredibly pure friendship, which gets put to the test upon the arrival of double agent Edgar Paget (Jamie Dornan).

And we need to dedicate this whole paragraph to Dornan’s performance, as he goes from incredulous reactions to the two ladies’ attempt at flirting, but soon becomes a full song-and-dance, shirt-ripping scene when he can’t help but sing and flail about his emotions.

The comedy in this film is set to a certain frequency, and it absolutely will NOT be for everyone. This isn’t your regular ‘Here is your set-up, here is your punchline’ funny film. The comedy here is absolutely BANANAS, so you need to prepared for something unique and satisfyingly odd. But if you’re willing to go with where Barb & Star can take you, then you’ll find yourself enjoying arguably the funniest movie of 2021 so far.

Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is available stream on NOW from Friday, 16 July.

Brought to you by NOW