Now that ASK A SEX THERAPIST told us about grapefruiting, Ladies, if you & your girlfriends haven’t seen “Girls Trip” yet, you need to – or get your hands on a copy ASAP if it’s left your movie theatre. Seriously. You don’t even realize how much you need this kind of sisterhood-laughter-Black-Girl-Magic in your life!
Never mind that I personally know the woman responsible for all the fly clothes these Nubian queens wore (we went to high school together); you can even ignore that one of my favorite sex games was prominently featured (again, no spoilers, but read more about that here ); and forget about the total treat of seeing Queen Latifa and Jada Pinkett-Smith share the big screen again after, like 20 years … the eye candy ALONE should be enough to lure you to your nearest theatre!
I mean, come on! Fine ass Larenz Tate, who hasn’t aged even a little bit since “Love Jones” hit theatres 20 years ago, still has a smile that can light up an entire movie screen. For real. Dude could pick his nose, scratch his balls and spit into a bowl, but when he flashes that mega-watt smile of his, panties will start dropping everywhere!
Plus there’s Mike Colter, with all that bald, chocolate-y, goodness wrapped up thick muscles and tight-ass suits. Makes me just want to reach up and rub on his pretty, bald head. Gives me the flutters and the flux just thinking about what those muscles would feel like in my capable hands. With his fine self.
Heck, even Mike Epps’ silly ass makes a cute and funny appearance, causing me to look at him twice, like “Hey, Mike! Heeeyyy!”
And then there’s so-fine-it-actually-hurts-to-look-at-him Kofi Siriboe! You know, hot-ass Ralph Angel from OWN’s “Queen Sugar”? Yeah, him. With his sculpted cheekbones and bedroom eyes. With his deep, chocolate skin that just makes you want to lick him from head to toe … Lawd, let me go get me a glass of ice water, cuz that young brotha is HOT!!!
And it’s not giving anything away to mention that this hilarious romp of peak Black Woman Awesomeness is set against the backdrop of the Essence Fest in New Orleans, that yearly musical festival where Black women gather to party, celebrate, learn, uplift, network and just … BE.
Because just BEING a Black woman in today’s world (and especially in Trump’s America) is hard AF! Because while the world may love our parts (our lips, our hair, our skin, our curves), the only people who really seem to love us as whole people are other Black women. Because Black women are the demographic most likely to seek love on dating sites, but are the least likely to be chosen on those same sites. Because the very tenacity and strength that has allowed us to thrive and prosper seems to hide our very humanity from everyone else, leaving them to assume we can’t feel pain. Because we have to “hold it down”, raise the kids, work harder than anyone only to still be paid less, keep the home, give our all to the church, plan the marches and protests (then feed all the marchers and protestors and clean up after them) … and look damned good doing it.
Because just BEING a Black woman is hard AF!
This movie is the perfect summer respite from all that ails and worries you, Sis. It’s a raunchy, belly-laugh of a hoot that centers Black women in a way so rarely captured by Hollywood. For once, the movie doesn’t depict us as the two-dimensional, moral compass of the story, patiently leading misguided white saviors along the bumpy road to redemption. “Girls Trip” centers Black women in all our fun, crazy, loving, sexual, magical glory, finally allowing US to save ourselves.
So, grab your girls (or your man, if he’s down) and treat yourself to the thrill ride of hilarity that is “Girls Trip”. The music is awesome, the cameos are epic, the laughs are plentiful and the sisterhood between the four main characters is inspiring. Go. Laugh. Talk back to the screen (you know how we do). Dance. Sing. Shout. Allow yourself the freedom to actually enjoy something that is just for YOU.
-Sophia
Sophia Ned-James is a Detorit-based Black Erotica writer whose work appears in SuzyKnew! under SIZZLE WITH SOPHIA.