Ibiza
Through no fault of their own, Ibiza has gotten a reputation as a party destination. A place where ecstasy and EDM are king, and the sun never rises because no one is up to see it. But the island is fighting back. When the Will Ferrell-owned production company asked to film the movie on location, Ibiza responded back with a resounding no.
They are concerned about being misrepresented (especially now since the film wasn’t made there) and the resulting tourism from pervasive party culture. They have even suggested that they may sue Netflix over the film, which was released on the platform last week. However, I think they would have a different approach if they actually watched the film.
Ibiza is supposed to be a romantic comedy (I think), but it lacks the necessary romantic energy to propel itself to the next level. Harper (Gillian Jacobs) and Leo (Richard Madden) certainly like each other (and they say it often), but it is more of a wonderful moment than a love story. If Ibiza suffers from anything, it’s that it wants to show and not tell, but there are a lot of times that it just flat out forgets to show us, especially when it comes to its main character, Harper.
Harper works in PR in New York, and when we meet her, she seems to just be going through the motions. Speaking to client after client with a fake excitement in her voice trying to express her understanding of whatever their product may be.
From the first few minutes we spend with her, enthusiasm feels like something that has eluded her her entire life until her boss, Sarah (Michaela Watkins) sends her to Barcelona on a mission to sign a new client. Her serious objectives and possible promotion are compromised when her best friends Nikki (Vanessa Bayer) and Leah (Phoebe Robinson) convince her to let them tag along, and the trio head off to Spain for the weekend.
Jacobs is as charming as ever in her role as Harper, and though she doesn’t drink or do drugs in real life, she does a great job of playing the part. The script isn’t as profound or witty as the ones presented to her in Community or Love, but it almost doesn’t matter. Jacobs emotes mostly through her facial expressions, and the shaky confidence of Harper is played with a calmness that almost makes you forget that she is acting at all.
Once in Barcelona, Ibiza starts to feel like it doesn’t know who it wants Harper to be, and her confliction isn’t given much weight. Though she says that she has to work and wants her friends to know that she is taking things seriously, after one meeting, she decides to hit the club. And that would be fine, but once her boss calls to check in, she ignores it after being convinced that it really won’t matter.
Enter Leo, an EDM DJ who only notices Harper in the crowd because she has glow in the dark genitals drawn on her face. He brings her backstage, and they have what is supposed to be their meet, cute-filled with all of the expected awkward laughs and wide-eyed stares.
What follows is Harper blowing off work to follow Leo to Ibiza because of the connection that they made in their brief encounter. The shenanigans that her and her besties find themselves in before the eventual reunion between the two lovers are entertaining enough, but there is something that can’t quite be pinpointed that keeps it from reaching a Hangover level of spontaneity.
Vanessa Bayer and Phoebe Robinson are almost convincing as the zany best friends to Harper’s straight man, but they don’t really seem like best friends. Bayer seems to be improvising most of her lines, which makes her character’s personality fluctuate in a way that doesn’t always make sense. Robinson’s Leah seems to be slumming it until she can get to her more interesting friends back in the states.
When Harper and Leo do reunite, it is as awkward as you would expect it to be for two people who met the night before but may be soulmates. Their conversation is repetitive and boring, and it doesn’t have the pay off that screenwriter, Lauryn Kahn, was probably going for.
The ending feels as rushed as most of the mishaps throughout the film. After missing her final meeting of the weekend, Harper is rightfully fired, though she has apparently retained most of the confidence from her drug-filled nights abroad and tells her boss off.
Which leads to the conclusion that love may have been less the point than watching Harper grow, despite her growth being less pronounced until she calls her boss a bitch. She has also decided to start her own firm, though that has never seemed like her mission but that may be another side effect of her experience.
Ibiza is an easy watch and the stakes are just low enough that it never stresses you out but you’re still unsure if the characters will get everything that they want. The party scenes are well-filmed, and director, Alex Richanbach, does a solid job while still playing it safe to varying degrees of success.
Ibiza hints at a sequel, as we see Harper being talked into meeting Leo in Tokyo before the credits, but there may not be any meat left on the bones for these characters to carry another adventure. So, if Ibiza really wants to sue Netflix, they should probably do so because they used their name to make something so bland.
I give it 2 out of 5 trash cans.
