Arabic version: الغارديان تصف «غيرل غروب» لريبل ويلسون بالكارثة

According to The Guardian, Rebel Wilson’s music comedy Girl Group is a “shoddily made and embarrassingly unfunny catastrophe” following its Toronto film festival premiere. The film is premiering at the festival and is seeking distribution.

Wilson wrote, directed and stars in the film as Tassie, a former member of the successful group Gurlfriends. The cast includes Melanie C, Shaznay Lewis, Ashley Roberts, Nicole Scherzinger and Sheridan Smith, while the soundtrack features covers associated with Destiny’s Child, En Vogue and Fifth Harmony.

The review says Tassie left Gurlfriends believing she could succeed alone, but later discovers the reunited group has replaced her with Scherzinger’s super-fan character. After a car crash, Tassie is sentenced to community service at a youth centre, where she encounters a wannabe girl group and a competition.

The Guardian criticised Wilson’s sole-credit script, describing its jokes as one-note and its sentiment as unearned. It also said the film appears synthetic and haphazardly assembled, although it identified Scherzinger’s willingness to mock her character’s persona and the musical covers as relative bright spots.

The review compared Girl Group unfavourably with Wilson’s earlier comedy work and said its attempt to address the sexualisation of young women lacks depth. It concluded that the film does not convey genuine affection for the girl-group music it seeks to celebrate.