Long Weekend Watch: Bad Trip, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, We Broke Up

I watched many random things this month. So now that a long weekend is upon us, I figure I should offer up some caveated recommendations and you can take your pick like a virtual tombola. Step right up, step right up, perhaps something will tickle your fancy!

Bad Trip: The easiest way to describe this movie is that it is a more uplifting Borat. Eric Andre stars as Chris, a Florida man (that's always a dicey descriptor) who decides to take a road trip to New York so he can be with the woman of his dreams. His friend Bud (Lil Rel Howery) comes along for the ride, but things go awry as they've taken Bud's sister's car. Unfortunately, his sister, Trina (Tiffany Haddish) is a violent criminal who just broke out of jail, so she is chasing them down to have her vengeance. 

All of that is the fictional plot of this movie. But it is being filmed with hidden cameras with unwitting real-life people encountering these actors and their shenanigans, and the results are startlingly heartwarming. Unlike Borat, where the goal is to capture people saying racist, sexist garbage and generally making you feel terrible about humanity, this movie is being predominantly filmed in Black spaces. Remember how in the Borat sequel, the standout was Jeanise Jones, a compassionate Black woman who tried to help his daughter instead of running away from these obvious lunatics? This movie is filled with lovely people like that who try to actually help these men despite some insane circumstances. Some of them go above and beyond in what would be extremely dangerous situations, and perhaps not surprisingly, no one ever seems to resort to calling the police. 

This is not a movie for the faint-of-heart; the humor is extremely crass, and you will sometimes be subjected to unwanted nudity. But it has this warm gooey center and is only 84 minutes long, so is well worth a watch, particularly for the end credits. It's dumb, silly, kinda uplifting, and perfect for a lazy summer weekend.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The latest Marvel-Disney+ collaboration, this is a straightforward series about how Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame. The action sequences are extraordinary and cinematic, but that's about all I could say for this show. I watched it week-to-week and was hard-pressed to remember any details from the convoluted plot that bounced around from Europe to Asia to New York and featured a gang of terrorists that had gotten a hold of the super soldier serum and were bent on wreaking havoc. In the meantime, a man called John Walker (Wyatt Russell) is appointed by the US Government as the new Captain America, which obviously causes some tensions with Sam and Bucky that escalate in fine fashion.

The show had some wonderful social commentary about what exactly it means for Sam to be a Black superhero in today's America and the history of Black super soldiers that were used for experimentation while Steve Rogers got to be revered as a national hero. There was also a lot of commentary about refugees and how we ought to treat global problems with diplomacy rather than force, which is also very pertinent to our current day and age. But overall, this show felt a bit too ham-handed to me. I love the actors, I enjoyed the action set pieces, but I never knew what was going on at any given moment, and I would have liked a bit more innovation and weirdness a la WandaVision, rather than the earnest melodrama. But the series is only six episodes long, so if you're a Marvel fan and you need to while away the hours, this is definitely a contender for your weekend. 

We Broke Up: This movie stars two of my favorite sitcom actors - William Jackson Harper (who played Chidi in The Good Place) and Aya Cash (who played Gretchen in You're The Worst). Here they play Doug and Lori, a couple that have been dating for ten years, but have suddenly realized they want different things out of life and break up. Unfortunately, they break up the day before they are supposed to head to Lori's sister's wedding, so they decide to attend as a couple and not ruin the weekend. Naturally, some hi-jinks ensue.

This movie is...fine. I was initially very excited when I saw that it also starred Peri Gilpin as Lori's mother and Larisa Oleynik as the wedding planner. Unfortunately, those ladies didn't stick around for very long and what followed was a mildly entertaining movie that was a little bit funny, then a whole lot sad, and eventually petered out with a bit of a whimper. It's only 81 minutes long so it's not a huge time investment, and if you love these actors, you could give it a try. But otherwise, be prepared for a dramedy that says what it is on the tin and doesn't innovate too much beyond that.