By Lilly Workneh, huffingtonpost.com
Any girls trip is likely to come with a lot of laughs, a few mistakes and memories that last a lifetime ― but leave it to four magical ladies in Hollywood to show you how it can be done.
Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish pack their bags and head to New Orleans for a fun getaway in “Girls Trip,” a new summer movie widely releasing in theaters on Friday. The film follows these four women, each with distinct personalities and different lifestyles, as they reunite for an adventurous weekend that comes with almost as many regrets as winning moments.
“Girls Trip,” which is billed as a comedy, doesn’t just deliver on its laugh-out-loud scenes, but also carries resounding messages about black women engaging in self-care and sisterhood, something Hollywood has not always embraced ― but should.
What makes “Girls Trip” so great is that it shows black women as they are: Unapologetic, carefree, flawed and human. Through its comedic approach, the film gives space for these women to act reckless, reckon with their wrongdoing and re-examine their actions in a way that is raw, real and rarely represented on the big screen. It is a deliberate message and one producer Will Packer and director Malcolm D. Lee kept front of mind when casting for and crafting the film.
“There’s a complexity to the imagery of black women,” Packer said during a recent panel discussion on the movie. “Black women, historically in media, have been either over-sexualized, hyper-angry, or super saintly. Those aren’t real people, those are caricatures. The opportunity to show real people … was important.”