“Spa Weekend” Opens With Michelle Buteau in a Comedy About Friendship and Burnout

Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau, and Anna Faris appear in Black Bear’s official “Spa Weekend” trailer.

Michelle Buteau has checked into a comedy built around the kind of escape adults plan when everyday life has taken too much out of them. “Spa Weekend” opened in theaters August 21 with Buteau, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Anna Faris playing four longtime friends whose luxury retreat is supposed to restore their energy. Instead, the getaway exposes everything they have not been saying to one another.

“Spa Weekend” comes from writers and directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the filmmaking team associated with the broad ensemble energy of “Bad Moms.” Black Bear’s official synopsis frames the new movie as both hilarious and heartfelt: careers, families, relationships and routine have left the women burned out, so the spa becomes a temporary break from responsibility and a pressure test for the friendship holding them together.

Buteau’s place in the ensemble gives the film an especially useful center for PowerPage audiences. Her comedy can move from a sharp observation to open vulnerability without losing rhythm, a combination that fits a movie trying to make bad decisions funny while still treating midlife friendship as something worth protecting. Mann, Fisher and Faris bring their own long histories with physical comedy and characters who are barely keeping the situation under control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p7j3UvpEQQ

The movie runs 97 minutes and is rated R. Its theatrical release arrives at the end of a crowded summer, when a character-driven comedy has to compete with franchise titles and streaming premieres for attention. The clearest selling point is not spectacle. It is recognition: four women realize that self-care language means little if they cannot be honest about what their lives and relationships are costing them.

PowerPage’s recent “Wicked: For Good” Baltimore movie-night guide focused on a local outdoor screening. “Spa Weekend” offers a traditional theater option with a different kind of group-night appeal. The verified Black Bear trailer above stretches across the article for a complete preview, and the official movie site is directing viewers to current showtimes.