Updated

Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 21

Spa Weekend Opens Wide in 1,500-Plus Theaters as Critics Pan Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's Comedy

Updated

Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 21

Spa Weekend Opens Wide in 1,500-Plus Theaters as Critics Pan Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's Comedy

Q: With the film out today, does the cast's undeniable chemistry rescue Spa Weekend from its surprisingly tame script?

Only partly. The cast’s chemistry is widely seen as *Spa Weekend*’s main saving grace, but most reviews say it is not enough to overcome a script that is surprisingly safe and formulaic. Across the coverage, Leslie Mann, Anna Faris, Michelle Buteau and Isla Fisher are consistently praised for their comic timing and easy rapport. Several reviews describe the four leads as “especially watchable,” with their longtime-friends dynamic giving the film a breezy, easygoing appeal even when the material is familiar. Fisher, in particular, is often singled out as the standout chaotic presence, while Mann and Buteau give the film some emotional grounding. That said, critics broadly agree the screenplay does not fully capitalize on them. The film is described as predictable, sentimental and reluctant to push its “girls-gone-wild” premise into genuinely sharp or outrageous territory. Character arcs are often called thin and archetypal, and the jokes are said to land only intermittently. Even sympathetic reviews frame it as a modest, undemanding late-summer comedy rather than a standout in the genre. So the answer is yes, but only to a limited extent: the ensemble makes *Spa Weekend* more enjoyable than the script deserves and keeps it from collapsing into a slog. But the chemistry does not fully rescue the film from the larger complaint that, from the writers of *The Hangover*, this comedy feels oddly bland when it should have been much funnier and riskier.

3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 21

1,500-plus theaters begin showing “Spa Weekend” on Friday, giving Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s latest female-friendship comedy a wide U.S. launch.
97 minutes at an R rating, the film follows four longtime friends at a luxury retreat, with Isla Fisher, Leslie Mann, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris leading the ensemble.
Critics say the cast outperforms a thin script built on crude gags, broad speeches and resort-set chaos rather than sharper character work or humor.
Queensland, Australia, doubles for a Los Angeles-area spa roughly 100 miles away in the story, a mismatch reviewers cite as another sign of the film’s lack of craft.
The release extends Lucas and Moore’s return to mom-centered comedy nearly a decade after 2016’s “Bad Moms” and 2017’s “A Bad Moms Christmas.”