Spa Weekend Review

Spa Weekend is a female-led comedy from the duo Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the writers of the first Hangover movie and directors of the Bad Moms films. Spa Weekend sees the pair return to familiar territory.

Jane (Leslie Mann), Coco (Michelle Buteau) and Sophie (Anna Faris) have been friends since middle school, but have drifted apart as they got older. They plan to spend a weekend at a luxury spa to celebrate Jane’s birthday. However, their plans for pampering and relaxation get derailed when their other old friend, Mel (Isla Fisher), unexpectedly joins them.

As genre comedy used to be a lucrative one. They were relatively cheap to make and could potentially make a healthy profit. Post-pandemic, comedy films getting theatrical releases have become less frequent. Lucas and Moore’s work on the Bad Moms movies because they cost less than $30 million to make and both made over $100 million at the box office, each. Spa Weekend felt like they were trying to repeat that success by throwing together a load of actresses and letting them riff off each other.

Spa Weekend was pretty much Bad Moms 3: it was about a group of middle-aged women who wanted to escape from their families and careers. Spa Weekend opened the same way as Bad Moms, with narration from the main character about her background and current situation. The dynamics of the group of friends were similar to those of the ‘Bad Moms.’ Jane was the uptight workaholic with no social life, Sophie was too kind and naïve for her own good, and Coco and Mel were the volatile members: Coco had anger management issues, and Mel never grew up.

The film had obvious character arcs: Jane needed to let loose and have some fun with an Aussie yoga instructor (Adam Demos), Sophie needed to stand up for herself against her overly demanding boss, and Coco had to learn to control her anger. Even though Mel was a hot mess with a brash personality, she was also the facilitator of these changes. Even though Spa Weekend was marketed as a raunchy comedy, it was painfully predictable.

Spa Weekend was a film that had a light touch with its story. The group of friends went from spa treatment to spa treatment to relax, and Mel would end up acting like a schoolkid who disrupts class. Some of Mel’s actions include annoying a wellness guru to lose her cool and stealing a golf cart because she was too lazy to walk for three minutes. Mel would take the most outlandish, chaotic course even if it was against her best interest.

Spa Weekend ended with outtakes which show how the film was made. The actors were thrown into scenarios and told to ad-lib, and the directors and editor stitched together the ‘best’ bits. The people in the film seemed like they were having fun making it; we all would if we got paid to go to Australia and hang around a resort, but it wasn’t as entertaining to watch.

Spa Weekend was a sadly predictable and mediocre comedy film. Unlike a nice holiday, it will be quickly forgotten.