Six women, all former pizza waitresses, super longtime friends, head to wine country to celebrate a birthday: Rebecca is turning 50.
Rebecca (Rachel Dratch) is not so into this 50 thing. She’s a therapist who’s got great “feedback” for everyone else but has neglected the problems in her marriage.
Catherine (Ana Gasteyer) is a successful workaholic who’s having trouble disconnecting…and connecting, for that matter.
Naomi (Maya Rudolph) is a stressed-out mom of 4 who needs this time away so badly she’s bringing a weird intensity to the trip.
Val (Paula Pell) has a brand new set of knees and is hoping to find a new girlfriend to match.
Jenny (Emily Spivey) rarely leaves her house and has a super tepid reaction to literally everything.
Abby (Amy Poehler) has over-scheduled them all to within an inch of their lives. They’re having fun! (it’s on the itinerary in 20 minute increments).
These women are clearly tremendous friends, but their friendship is also so storied and complicated. And a tarot reading only brings up their internal conflicts – then they add all the wine! Oooh, shit’s about to become unglued.
Amy Poehler directs for the first time, and assembles her own Avengers (mostly SNL veterans) and she brings such an amazing energy to the thing. Instead of non-stop laughs, Poehler trusts that we’re in the right company, and enjoying our time with the ladies will be enough. She’s right. It’s like being among your own friends. They randomly burst into pieces of song. They openly roll eyes at over-eager sommeliers. And they’re mostly just supportive of each other, sometimes in abrasive ways that only comes with true intimacy, but it’s nice that it’s so assured. It feels right.
I’ve been to Napa for a birthday too, with my 2 favourite assholes, Matt and Sean. And it seems like we did a lot of the same things: wine tunnels and short buses and organic wineries. These ladies probably went home with the exact same high-end olive oil as souvenirs. So there’s room in this script for you to project your own shit, which I always think is nice.
THANK YOU, Jay. I read a couple bad reviews of this and after seeing who was involved and watching the great trailer I was like “WTF are these people thinking? It’s impossible for this movie not to be good.” So I’m glad my trusted assholes know what’s up. Looking forward to watching this (maybe with some beer though, I’m not much of a wine guy)
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I believe a beer or 4 would be totally acceptable.
And yeah if you’re expecting Bridesmaids, this ain’t it. But it’s certainly not bad.
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good to know! i will lower my expectations a tad and hopefully enjoy myself over a brew or two
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Nope, my own shit is far, far removed from this premise, so will miss it, cool review though!
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This looks cute but looks a little too cutesey for the cheetah and myself.
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Hmmm…had planned to give this a miss but…maybe not…thanks for your thoughts
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being from sonoma
i find humor in what
people drink in that
other valley 🙂
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Almost makes me wish I liked wine. I really like Poehler & Rudolph, so I’ll have to check this one out. Didn’t even know it existed until your review! xx
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Yes, it has only a very limited run in theatres, but it’s already on Netflix!
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This sounds like it’s about my speed.
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SNL Avengers!
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