Rebel Wilson returns to her musical roots to write, direct, and star in GIRL GROUP. The film is an entertaining love letter to the history of girl groups (my favorite being the outsized love for the Spice Girls) with phenomenal musical numbers set to such artists as BlackPink and Billie Eilish. Admittedly, the film does, at times, veer a bit too far into the over-the-top cheesiness and the mile-a-minute jokes don’t always land. But all-in-all, it is a breezy, easy watch that is worth watching for the performances alone.
Tassie Young (Wilson) is a British singer who has struggled to find solo success since leaving her super successful girl group nearly a decade earlier. To make matters worse, her former group decides to do a reunion tour, but instead of asking her back, they have Nicole Scherzinger step into Tassie’s place. Of course, Tassie takes this betrayal hard and goes a little too hard at the club, ending up with a DUI and community service as her penance. Luckily, a local community center agrees to bring her on to help a group of girls come together and form their own group. At first, Tassie wants nothing to do with the girls because her ego is hurt by her current station in life. But as she gets to know them more and more and sees their potential, Tassie opens herself up to new experiences and how she can help the younger generation of women.
Similar to PITCH PERFECT, GIRL GROUP is at its best when it allows the musical performances to take center stage. Wilson was able to secure top-tier songs, like Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO!” and Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It” for the film’s needle-drop moments. But my personal favorite was her including Geri Halliwell’s “Look At Me” for one of her character’s key performances. I don’t know about you, but any millennial Spice Girls fan gets triggered when they hear that song because it was Halliwell’s first solo single after leaving the group. This reference and others (some subtle, some not so subtle) show Wilson’s affection for girl groups and understanding of how much they mean to young girls… and :ahem: adult women. Wilson also has at least one original song in the film and it’s a total bop; I imagine even the biggest curmudgeon critic was tapping their foot to it—the TIFF audience sure was jamming to it.
Wilson’s script could have used a bit more fine-tuning. When the dialogue is funny, it’s hilarious, but when it’s not, it’s a little cringey. The dialogue especially needs to be toned down to decrease the number of jokes; in many instances, the jokes come at you back-to-back-to-back, which takes you out of the film because that’s not how people speak in real life. And with that, when one of the jokes in the chain reaction fails, it hurts the whole scene and makes the others feel less impactful. GIRL GROUP also feels pretty familiar, which isn’t the end of the world in an easy-to-watch film like this; I just wish there had been a little more bite and unpredictability.
GIRL GROUP is not changing the game when it comes to music-centered films. In fact, Wilson admitted they just finished the film a few days before the premiere. But a movie doesn’t have to be pitch perfect to be fun, and this one is worth watching even if you only watch the impressive performances featuring the most talented entertainers from around the world. Wilson has been trying to get this film off the ground for years, and at one point the film was criticized for being “too female-driven.” I’m glad that she is using her star power to make sure female-centric movies like this continue to be made. After all, SPICE WORLD is not on digital yet, so we need some good girl power music films for young girls!
My Review: C+/B-
