homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Weekend





Subscriber content preview

September 3, 2021

At the Movies: Cena, Howery make ‘Vacation Friends' a trip

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

The pandemic has been cruel to more than a few movie genres, but have any been so hampered by the current state of the world as the vacation comedy?

Early on, it reminded us of what we couldn't do, what we were postponing or canceling. It was an odd experience of wistfulness laced with bitterness watching people like Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon dine and drink their way through Greece. Perhaps that's why a comedy as absurdist and fanciful as “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” clicked with so many. It was just unreal enough to be palatable and silly enough to be cathartic. And then, of course, came “The White Lotus,” the dark comedy set at a ritzy Hawaiian resort that appealed on one level to some deep seeded superiority of not being “those people.”


 
. . .


To read this story in full login or purchase a subscription.



Previous columns:



Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.