Silly hot-DJ comedy finds natural rhythm
Ibiza
K (out of four) Starring Gillian Jacobs, Vanessa Bayer, Phoebe Robinson. Directed by Alex Richanbach. 94 minutes. Not rated; on Netflix.
So long a staple of the moviegoing experience, the summer comedy has fallen on hard times. There are hardly any on this season’s release schedule, and one of the more promising candidates — Ibiza, starring the terrific Gillian Jacobs and the former Saturday Night Live cast member Vanessa Bayer — isn’t playing in theatres, but is streaming on Netflix.
In most ways, Ibiza doesn’t differ greatly from the late-arriving post- Bridesmaids ilk of raunchy female-led road-trip comedies. Jacobs ( Love, Community) plays an angst-ridden, single New Yorker named Harper whose intensely cruel, germaphobe boss (the excellent Michaela Watkins) dispatches her to Barcelona on a business trip to land a Sangria client for their public relations company.
Harper’s two best friends, Nikki (Bayer) and Leah (Phoebe Robinson of 2 Dope Queens) insist on coming along. When the normally reticent Harper pursues a DJ love interest (Richard Madden, a.k.a. Robb Stark on Game of Thrones), their European trip takes an impromptu detour to Spain’s nightclub destination.
The outline of Ibiza isn’t promising. A movie geared around a hot Ibiza DJ sounds like a straight-to-video Zac Efron movie.
But Ibiza, scripted by Lauryn Kahn and directed by Alex Richanbach, has a loose, natural rhythm that easily surpasses its cliché framework.
And unlike some of its forerunners, Ibiza doesn’t feel like it’s stretching to stitch together a few memorable set pieces. It works best when the three are just in a hotel room or the back seat of a cab because the chemistry between the trio is earnestly winning.