Netflix has an infamous tendency to avoid marketing their films at all, which results in well-received movies slipping under the radar upon release. Unless the streaming giant has given a large sum of money to a movie like Bright or Okja, it's unlikely that you'll see any publicity whatsoever. So I was surprised when I saw several ads for Ibiza, a relatively low-key comedy starring Community's Gillian Jacobs, SNL's Vanessa Bayer, and I Love Dick's Phoebe Robinson. It looked undeniably ridiculous, but I'm a sucker for a good raunchy comedy. Ibiza is....well, not exactly that. It's a lot of party montages set to heart-pounding dance music, a few extremely R-rated jokes, and plenty of wild behavior. But even as director Alex Richanbach fails to deliver many laughs, Ibiza is surprisingly likable at times, mostly because of a strong performance by Jacobs and a cute love story that often feels like a drunken Before Sunrise.
Harper (Jacobs) has been working at the same PR firm for several years, but her years of hard work hasn't led to the promotion she desperately wants. Instead, she's stuck in something of a Swimming with Sharks situation, toiling for Sarah, a maniacal boss (Michaela Watkins) who expects Harper to do whatever she wishes. One day, Sarah orders Harper to take a trip to Barcelona, hoping to secure a deal with a major sangria corporation. Hoping to have a little bit of fun on the Spanish coast, Harper's wild friends, Nikki (Bayer) and Leah (Robinson), decide to tag alone on her big work trip. While Harper maintains that this is for business, not pleasure, her friends suck her into a crazy journey of clubbing, partying, and drug-induced madness.
When she's out one night, Harper catches the attention of famous DJ Leo West (Richard Madden), who happens to notice the.....uh, phallic symbol drawn on her face. Harper and Leo hit it off surprisingly well, but she ends up losing sight of him over the course of her bonkers evening. Disappointed by her lost love, Harper's eyes light up when she realizes that Leo is playing in Ibiza the next evening. With the help of her friends, she concocts a scheme to reconnect with Leo and make it back to Barcelona in time for the meeting. Will she make it all work out? Yeah, probably not.
I'm probably a little too generous to this kind of amiable love story, but there's real chemistry between Gillian Jacobs and Richard Madden, which manifests in some really sweet ways. Their scenes together give the movie a much-needed spark of energy, a spark that never arrives during the more overtly comedic moments. Best known for his role on Game of Thrones, Madden has a quiet sense of confidence, and his genuine likability continually took me by surprise. But the real standout here is Jacobs, who proves that she's destined to be a comedy star outside the world of television. As Harper, Jacobs is effortlessly charismatic, stealing the show even in a film that allows her few truly funny moments. With a blend of wicked sarcasm and sheer goofiness that is just perfect for this character, it's abundantly clear that Jacobs needs to be in more big screen comedies. She's so good as the film's cheery straight woman that she nearly saves the whole thing.
It's too bad that Ibiza is just such a thin, almost pointless movie. Director Richanbach and writer Lauryn Kahn alternate between scenes of extravagant partying and typical raunchy comedy bits, a familiar combination if you've followed this genre in recent years. Set mostly to thundering Latin dance music, the party scenes are shot with a good deal of flair, but the seemingly endless club trips quickly get tiresome. The same can be said for Ibiza's brand of vulgar humor, which is neither as shocking or as hilarious as the filmmakers seemingly want it to be. Drug trips, bodily fluid gags, constant sexual mayhem- this movie hits all the familiar notes. Vanessa Bayer and Phoebe Robinson have a few impressive moments as the Harper's friends, but they're more exhausting than amusing after a while. Other characters drift in and out of the movie without any real rhyme or reason, rarely giving the story the kind of flow that it needs. Ibiza often feels shapeless, never cohering into anything substantial.
So essentially, you have a movie without a much of story that barely skates by thanks to the impressive charm of its two romantic leads. Ibiza would be better off if it was content with being a sweet Millenial romance, but its unnecessary impulse towards broad comedy nearly sinks it. While the film has plenty of absurd and outlandish moments, it's just never funny in the strictest sense of the word. Thankfully for us, Gillian Jacobs is a bona fide star, carrying a series of lackluster jokes and familiar setups on her back and creating something mildly enjoyable. If that seems like a prime example of damning with faint praise, well, it is. Nonetheless, it's clear that Jacobs deserves better than this tired material, as her affable lead performance (with a nice assist from Madden) nearly makes Ibiza worth the watch. Someone get Jacobs a starring role in a major Hollywood project ASAP.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (6/10)
Images: Netflix
Harper (Jacobs) has been working at the same PR firm for several years, but her years of hard work hasn't led to the promotion she desperately wants. Instead, she's stuck in something of a Swimming with Sharks situation, toiling for Sarah, a maniacal boss (Michaela Watkins) who expects Harper to do whatever she wishes. One day, Sarah orders Harper to take a trip to Barcelona, hoping to secure a deal with a major sangria corporation. Hoping to have a little bit of fun on the Spanish coast, Harper's wild friends, Nikki (Bayer) and Leah (Robinson), decide to tag alone on her big work trip. While Harper maintains that this is for business, not pleasure, her friends suck her into a crazy journey of clubbing, partying, and drug-induced madness.
When she's out one night, Harper catches the attention of famous DJ Leo West (Richard Madden), who happens to notice the.....uh, phallic symbol drawn on her face. Harper and Leo hit it off surprisingly well, but she ends up losing sight of him over the course of her bonkers evening. Disappointed by her lost love, Harper's eyes light up when she realizes that Leo is playing in Ibiza the next evening. With the help of her friends, she concocts a scheme to reconnect with Leo and make it back to Barcelona in time for the meeting. Will she make it all work out? Yeah, probably not.
I'm probably a little too generous to this kind of amiable love story, but there's real chemistry between Gillian Jacobs and Richard Madden, which manifests in some really sweet ways. Their scenes together give the movie a much-needed spark of energy, a spark that never arrives during the more overtly comedic moments. Best known for his role on Game of Thrones, Madden has a quiet sense of confidence, and his genuine likability continually took me by surprise. But the real standout here is Jacobs, who proves that she's destined to be a comedy star outside the world of television. As Harper, Jacobs is effortlessly charismatic, stealing the show even in a film that allows her few truly funny moments. With a blend of wicked sarcasm and sheer goofiness that is just perfect for this character, it's abundantly clear that Jacobs needs to be in more big screen comedies. She's so good as the film's cheery straight woman that she nearly saves the whole thing.
It's too bad that Ibiza is just such a thin, almost pointless movie. Director Richanbach and writer Lauryn Kahn alternate between scenes of extravagant partying and typical raunchy comedy bits, a familiar combination if you've followed this genre in recent years. Set mostly to thundering Latin dance music, the party scenes are shot with a good deal of flair, but the seemingly endless club trips quickly get tiresome. The same can be said for Ibiza's brand of vulgar humor, which is neither as shocking or as hilarious as the filmmakers seemingly want it to be. Drug trips, bodily fluid gags, constant sexual mayhem- this movie hits all the familiar notes. Vanessa Bayer and Phoebe Robinson have a few impressive moments as the Harper's friends, but they're more exhausting than amusing after a while. Other characters drift in and out of the movie without any real rhyme or reason, rarely giving the story the kind of flow that it needs. Ibiza often feels shapeless, never cohering into anything substantial.
So essentially, you have a movie without a much of story that barely skates by thanks to the impressive charm of its two romantic leads. Ibiza would be better off if it was content with being a sweet Millenial romance, but its unnecessary impulse towards broad comedy nearly sinks it. While the film has plenty of absurd and outlandish moments, it's just never funny in the strictest sense of the word. Thankfully for us, Gillian Jacobs is a bona fide star, carrying a series of lackluster jokes and familiar setups on her back and creating something mildly enjoyable. If that seems like a prime example of damning with faint praise, well, it is. Nonetheless, it's clear that Jacobs deserves better than this tired material, as her affable lead performance (with a nice assist from Madden) nearly makes Ibiza worth the watch. Someone get Jacobs a starring role in a major Hollywood project ASAP.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (6/10)
Images: Netflix
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