"Spa Weekend" Review — The Ladies Bring the Laughs, but Something Is Missing

Filmmaking duo Jon Lucas and Scott Moore return to the world of comedy after a seven-year hiatus with their latest effort, “Spa Weekend,” from Black Bear Pictures. The film follows four childhood best friends—Jane (Leslie Mann), Sophie (Anna Faris), Coco (Michelle Buteau), and Mel (Isla Fisher)—who have grown apart as adults due to their busy lives.

Coco books a spa weekend at the Solaris Resort for herself, Jane, and Sophie to celebrate Jane’s birthday, but they initially decide not to invite Mel because she is reckless and tends to get them into trouble. However, feeling guilty, Sophie invites Mel at the last minute. Naturally, hijinks ensue.

I’ll keep it simple: if you put Leslie Mann, Anna Faris, Michelle Buteau, and Isla Fisher together for a girls’ weekend, I’m likely to laugh—and I did. “Spa Weekend” doesn’t exactly break new ground. The setup is as expected: longtime friends head off for some much-needed relaxation, personalities clash, secrets are revealed, things go awry, and what was supposed to be peaceful becomes anything but. We’ve been here before, but thankfully, these four women make the trip worth taking.

The strongest aspect of “Spa Weekend” is the chemistry between Mann, Faris, Buteau, and Fisher. They genuinely feel like friends who have known each other long enough to know exactly how to push each other’s buttons. This matters because many ensemble comedies throw together recognizable actresses and assume familiarity will magically appear. In this case, I truly believed in their friendship.

Fisher naturally gets some of the wilder material, while Buteau has a talent for delivering lines in a way that maximizes their impact. Faris remains one of those actresses who can elicit laughter with just a facial expression before she even speaks, and Mann serves as the reliable center of the group. The film has genuinely funny moments throughout.

However, “Spa Weekend” sometimes feels as if parts of the movie were left on the editing-room floor or that the script was originally pitched as a “Bad Moms” threequel. Certain arguments happen before they feel fully earned, emotional beats arrive abruptly, and relationships shift in ways that made me question whether I had missed a scene. I hadn’t. It’s clear where the filmmakers want the characters to end up, but the journey from Point A to Point B feels incomplete.

That’s disappointing because I genuinely wanted to spend more time with these women. I would have preferred fewer elaborate spa disasters and an extra five minutes of them sitting around, drinking, trash-talking, and probing each other’s lives. Their chemistry is strong enough that the movie didn’t need to work so hard.

Additionally, there is a slight tug-of-war between the raunchier comedic elements and the more sentimental story of longtime friendship. Neither approach is wrong, but the transitions between them don’t always flow smoothly.

Still, funny is funny, and these ladies deliver. “Spa Weekend” won’t enter the conversation with memorable films like “Bridesmaids” or set a new standard for female ensemble comedies. Still, it gets enough right to make for an enjoyable watch.

I wish the finished product felt as complete as the chemistry between its four stars.

Final Grade: B-

"Spa Weekend" is in theaters now.