Malcolm D. Lee

Occupation

Filmmaker

Girls Trip Review

Very Good

This movie's premise basically sounds like The Hangover with added black girl power. But it's actually a lot more than that, with themes and ideas that emerge across the board. Although what audiences will remember are the more raucous comedic moments, which gleefully dive headlong into full-on vulgarity to keep the audience laughing all the way through to the big finale. And this will also be forever remembered as the movie that made The Carmichael Show's Tiffany Haddish a star.

She plays Dina, the sassy, hard-partying member of the Flossy Posse, a group of four friends from university 25 years ago. The others are superstar self-help guru Ryan (Regina Hall), notorious gossip blogger Sasha (Queen Latifah) and workaholic single mother Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith). Worrying that their friendship is fading away with time, Ryan proposes a reunion to travel to EssenceFest in New Orleans, where she's giving the keynote speech. So off they go to let their hair down and escape their responsible lives. But Sasha has just received a paparazzi photo of Ryan's football-star husband Stewart (Mike Colter) snuggling up with an Instagram model, and Dina immediately wants revenge. On the other hand, Ryan is concerned about maintaining her public image.

There are two big themes here that fit in rather nicely with the crazed antics that pepper the movie with rude flashes of riotous hilarity. First of course is the importance of sometimes setting your chores aside and just having fun with your friends. But the deeper message is about the importance of living honestly instead of just pretending that everything is great. Ryan, Sasha and Lisa have to face these issues and deal deeply with how they live their lives. Meanwhile, Dina just keeps partying. But then, she's the film's relentless scene-stealer, and the audience wouldn't have it any other way.

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Girls Trip Trailer

You might have thought that all-girl vacations were a thing reserved for college kids, but this group of four brazen besties are determined to have one last weekend of uninhibited fun and freedom before returning to the daily grind of responsible womanhood. They decide to fly to New Orleans, Louisiana for the city's infamous annual Essence Music Festival, and they're hoping that their time will include plenty of drinking, dancing and no-strings romances, but - as you can expect - they're about to discover a whole lot more. It seems that one of these sisters in particular has already thrown away her youth - and not just in the wardrobe department - to the chagrin of her friends. Is this vacation really going to be enough to get her to loosen up about open her heart?

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Barbershop 3: The Next Cut Trailer

The Barbershop gang are back once again. Having had to team up with Angie's ladies salon to be able to stay afloat, the Barbershop is no longer a man only zone and not all of Calvin's customers are happy having to share but they make it work.

Sharing the salon floor is the least of the towns problems, ever more frequently their streets are being overrun by gangs fighting for territory, new corner boys and customers. Calvin and the residents who love their town and want it returning to its former state, decide to take matters into their own hands.

Barbershop: The Next Cut is the forth film in franchise which includes a spinoff called Beauty Shop. The film was directed by Malcolm D. Lee who directed the hugely successful 'The Best Man' series of films.