Spa Weekend (2026) Black Bear/Comedy RT: 97 minutes Rated R (language throughout, sexual material, some drug use) Director: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore Screenplay: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore Music: Philip White Cinematography: Danny Ruhlmann Release date: August 21, 2026 (US) Cast: Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau, Anna Faris, Adam Demos, Erika Heynatz, Dominic Ona-Ariki, Felix Williamson, Diana Glenn, Everly Ilona Graves, Quinn Aune, Sierra Rose Peters, Juliet Sargent.
Rating: **
The good news is Spa Weekend isn’t as God-awful as I thought it would be. The bad, but not unexpected, news is that it still isn’t very good. It’s not at all surprising that it’s coming out at the end of the summer. It has late August release written all over it.
If Spa Weekend feels familiar, I can explain why. It’s written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the duo behind another better female-driven comedy Bad Moms (as well as the inferior sequel A Bad Moms Christmas). It similarly features women behaving badly as they try to fix what’s wrong with their lives. Hey ladies, it’s called adulthood. Deal with it.
Jane (Mann, This Is 40), Coco (Buteau, Babes), Sophie (Faris, Scary Movie 6) and Mel (Fisher, Wedding Crashers) have been besties since middle school. They don’t see a lot of each other these days; real life and its many obligations (family, career) get in the way. Jane is a lawyer who has no time for a personal life. When a colleague asks her on a date, she has to schedule it three months in advance. Recently divorced Coco has anger issues, especially where her ex (Ariki, Shortland Street) is concerned. Sophie is the type that lets everybody walk all over her, especially her demanding man-baby of a boss (Williamson, Peter Rabbit). Mel is the hellraiser of the group. More about her in a sec.
Jane’s birthday is coming up and it’s decided that they’ll celebrate with a quiet, relaxing spa weekend away from all responsibility. It’s also decided to not invite Mel because she is the opposite of quiet and relaxing. She’s a train wreck who brings chaos everywhere she goes. The three head to a luxury hotel/spa for two days of massages, yoga and guided meditation sessions. All is serene until Mel shows up, invited by a guilt-ridden Sophie. As expected, she shatters the peace and quiet of the place with her wild antics.
The subplots are as follows. Jane starts something with the hot yoga instructor Kai (Demos, Rescue: Hi-Surf). He gives her the best sex she’s had in years. Coco and Roger start to reconnect after Mel tricks him into coming to the spa. Sophie starts to learn to stand up for herself after she’s fired from her job courtesy of (who else?) Mel. The girls find a nemesis in Shanti (Heynatz, Home and Away), the uptight manager and guru constantly angered by the girls’ bad behavior. And is it ever bad. Among other things, they cause a stampede at a goat yoga session, go joyriding in a stolen golf cart and throw a wild party. They destroy a lot of property along the way. Actually, it’s all Mel; the girls are just along for the ride in a manner of speaking.
That pretty much sums up Spa Weekend aside from a last-minute revelation about Mel and the obligatory scene where they learn a lesson in friendship. It’s nothing new. You’ve seen it all before and better. In theory, it should be funny. In reality, it’s mildly amusing at best. I chortled a few times, but my heart was never really in it. It was the kind of hollow laughter reserved for somebody making an effort and not quite nailing it.
Speaking of making an effort, you can see that the four leads are doing just that. It yields mixed results. Mann leads the pack as the stressed-out career woman and single mom in need of (sorry to be crude) a good shag. I usually find her annoying, but not so much this time. Her romance with the yoga hunk is nice. Fisher’s character got on my nerves at first, but I got used to her. Buteau is all sass as Coco, a woman who won’t even entertain the idea of therapy despite the fact she clearly needs to deal with her anger issues. As for Faris, she’s okay as meek Sophie, a lady with skills who doesn’t realize her worth. I liked her transformation.
I can’t honestly say I hated or liked Spa Weekend. If pressed, I’d say I lean more towards the latter, but only slightly. It could have been a lot worse than it is. It’s mediocre and hardly worth the price of admission. It’s better watched at home on a girls’ night in, wine and cheese on the table and no guys in the vicinity.
