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« 113 days 'til Oscar. The Existential Question of the Honorary Oscars. | Main | When Meryl Met Anna... and Other Stories »
Saturday
Nov112017

FYC: Tiffany Haddish for "Girls Trip"

by Chris Feil

Tonight Tiffany Haddish will be hosting Saturday Night Live in what some are hoping will be the beginning of a Best Supporting Actress campaign for her breakthrough role in Girls Trip. While it’s been unclear if the studio would be campaigning her, Haddish deserves the kind of groundswell effort that makes awards groups take notice.

How likely are her chances? Melissa McCarthy’s Bridesmaids nomination has been the obvious comparison, at least in terms of recent Oscar history - summer hit, female ensemble comedy, a presumptive “unlikely” narrative. But in her performance I see much more than that. To this viewer, she recalls the hilariously warped pathos of Madeline Kahn, the lovability of Octavia Spencer, and the imposing confidence of Rita Moreno. That’s high praise for sure, but gets at the full spectrum of her work that I’d wager hasn’t been fully explored...

Naysayers are already quick to reduce the dimension of her performance (not to mention the complete tour de force tornado of her comic heights) to empty crassness, but they ignore anything beyond the profane. As if Oscar nominated performances are free of naughty acts or reflect solely any one person’s taste. Sure Dina pees, jokes about hiding weed in her orifices, and forever changes how you look at grapefruit. But Haddish also makes her a complete human being.

Though let’s not side-step the dirty jokes, because to do so would be to cut the joy of her performance off at the knees. Other comedians would kill for a catchphrase as instantly winning as “It’s a bootyhole!”, but it’s her particular bemused giddiness that shines. She’s unflinchingly bold and sexually empowered, but her impulse is always motivated by love. No breakthrough performance this year comes for the audience with such physical force while landing with such sweetness.

To praise the effectiveness of her comedy shouldn’t fall on deaf ears. It’s commonplace to bemoan how Oscar ignores or doesn’t value the difficulty in crafting character through comedy, but it remains so. And race is a crucial piece of that - much of the negative talk against her performance I’ve seen simply underlines how white audiences disregard comedy by and for black audiences as insignificant. It’s transparent and infuriating.

Haddish also has the added ability of making it look effortless no matter how effortful Dina is. She flies off the handle, deftly delivers an unexpected punchline, snatches every opportunity to make the film a good time, and yet its the audience that breaks a sweat trying to keep up. Here’s where the comedy/drama awards divide remains true in regards to Haddish’s work: we regularly reward actors for not holding back in “serious” material, so why not for something lighter?

It’s silly to claim that her performance is just the jokes, as well. It’s kind of masterful how Haddish builds Dina almost explicitly through punchlines, how the jokes reveal the woman underneath. Dina is that friend, the one who can’t keep their mouth shut, whose stream of consciousness is a tide to be waited out rather than fought against. But Haddish also plays her as the friend that avoids her own fear of rejection, working her ass off to be loved. It’s a performance of fascinating and almost constant deflection from what ails her.

When Jada Pinkett Smith’s Lisa mentions this later in the film, Haddish smartly underplays the moment. On the page it’s maybe not as satisfying for Dina to not pour her heart out, but Haddish makes it feel honest, monumental that she even acknowledges that she’s the friend group squeaky wheel. She hints that the same defensive anger that Dina unleashes to protect her friends sometimes turns inward toward herself, but doesn’t indulge further. Hers is a more complicated sentimentality than the film has, one that avoids pat conclusions. It takes a lot of bravery to not ask for our sympathies, and a whole lot more brains to navigate the cracks in Dina’s confidence through laughs rather than tears. Nothing stands in the way of the comedy.

In this regard, Haddish makes you think about the intricacies of friend group dynamics, making the film’s more broad depiction of friendship even more interesting. On one hand it’s easy to miss the layers to what Haddish is doing just like how this particular member of a friend group is often taken for granted. But like that friend, it’s time to start giving this performance the credit it deserves.

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Reader Comments (30)

Devastatingly funny as Haddish is, I was actually most taken with Regina Hall in GIRLS TRIP.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAndrew Carden

Andrew Carden - I love Regina Hall as well. She'd be a lead to me, but Universal is pushing her as supporting too (probably a diplomat choice for all four stars)

November 11, 2017 | Registered CommenterChris Feil

If Melissa McCarthy can get nominated for crapping in a sink, surely, Tiffany Haddish can get in for doing sexual things to a grapefruit.

I hope that Universal steps up their campaign and pushes for her to get nominated.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterMatt St.Clair

I hope she gets a push cause she's great (though my preference would be for Jada as my fave performance from Girls Trip and I'm still bitter than no one celebrated her properly for Magic Mike XXL two years ago).

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterMynt

Lovely write up Chris.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJess

Yeh uhm... It's not going to happen...

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterDiego

Seems like a pipe dream now how silly we'll all look when she starts getting nominated,it would be refreshing to see next to the worrying mums and supportive wives.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered Commentermarkgordonuk

"And race is a crucial piece of that - much of the negative talk against her performance I’ve seen simply underlines how white audiences disregard comedy by and for black audiences as insignificant. It’s transparent and infuriating."

AMEN.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterKBJr.

Diego - It SHOULD happen.

There isn't another scene-stealing performance at this level of comic ferocity this year.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJoey

They'll nominated boring ass supportive wives with nothing to do, but something this entertaining will have noses turned upwards. It's annoying.

The fact that in that article, Universal didn't even bother to type out any contenders for any category is so telling that they're willing to just write off this movie. It's no best picture, but they could fight for Tiffany Haddish for sure. At least a little push, geez.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip H.

If Melissa McCarthy can get nominated for crapping in a sink, surely, Tiffany Haddish can get in for doing sexual things to a grapefruit.

Don't forget the winner that year baked a shit pie in their movie.

Haddish feels like an easier get for a nomination this season than Universal cares to realize. She definitely deserves it and black art intended for black audiences is always seen as less than.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered Commenter/3rtful

Maybe my expectations were too high but after watching the film recently, Tiffany Haddish was third for me in that film, with Regina King way up there, and Jada Pinkett Smith second.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterdomgogo

I'm ALL in. Although I must admit, Bridesmaid was a better movie all many fronts, which I'm sure helped McCarthy. Girls Trip is a riot but does not get any praise beyond key performances.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterG.ShaQ

Girls Trip was unfunny and none of the performances registered beyond Lifetime movie for me.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterBD

How in the hell are the performances in "Girls Trip" Lifetime level? Call it unfunny (wrong) or boring (again, pretty wrong) but Lifetime level of performances? You just didn't watch it, did you?

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterMorgan.

BD -- way to do exactly what this article is speaking against lol.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip H.

It would be a total miracle if the nom happens, but Nope.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterCraver

Haddish is the clear MVP with supporting fruit in 2nd place. But Hall, Pinkett Smith, and Latifah are all great too. Will the Academy actually go for it though? I hope so.

November 11, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterBillyBob

melissa mccartney was also the emmy winning lead on a network sitcom at the time of her nomination*; that’s a level of visibility haddish will find hard to match

[*i still think rose byrne was the mvp in bridesmaids]

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterpar

Didn't find anything special about that performance. Why not single out an Asian or Latino performer?

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterTOM

Girl’s Trip was terrible so why are you even indulging this fantasy?

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterFred

Tiffany Haddish deserves a real campaign for Girls Trip. This is the perfect year to acknowledge a performance as hilarious and assured as the one Haddish gives.

If Kristin Scott Thomas has a shot at a nomination for Darkest Hour there is no reason that Haddish shouldn't have a fair campaign for this.

I think she could really surprise this year.

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterlee willis

I think Bridesmaids's script was a bit sharper, and therefore allowed McCarthy to deliver more of a character, IMO. And I remember during the awards season that year - knowing nothing of McCarthy - how obviously different she was than Megan in Bridesmaids. Which shouldn't have been surprising since Melissa McCarthy is undeniably a character actress. I think Dina was more tailored to Tiffany Haddish and her gifts as a comedian.

Regardless, I still think she deserves a nomination, or at least a campaign. She's still for me - having not seen Lady Bird, I Tonya, or Novitiate yet - THE supporting performance of the year so far. She's truly a breakout star, and she's totally ferocious and committed in Girls Trip.

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAaron

It's nice to put a spotlight on performances that otherwise would be getting NO traction, but Girls Trip is never going to be an Oscar contender in any category. First of all, it doesn't have anywhere near the high profile that Bridesmaids did in terms of critical support, commercial earnings, or public awareness. Most crucially, awards voters won't have it anywhere near their minds when balloting time arrives, it's not a movie that feels important enough, compared to Bridesmaids which was still a big deal at the time both within the industry and for the public.

This is not a comment on the quality of the film or the performance in question, by the way, before anyone tries pulling any kind of cards speculating potential bias.

Like Bridesmaids, the movie was okay. Fun cast, funny moments, and was good counter-programming during it's release. Like Bridesmaids, it's not Oscar-worthy.
Unlike Bridesmaids, not many people outside of the East/West coast bubbles remember it/talk about it/ quote it come December and January. .

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterTy

I like Tiffany Haddish a lot. She is so smart, her story is interesting and she is a ball of fire. But that movie made Tyler Perry look like Citizen Kane. It was so cliched and Jada is always bad. Tiffany though, A+.

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterTom Ford

The movie isn't Fellini or Bergman or Spielberg. It isn't supposed to be. Just like Mel Brooks movies aren't supposed to be either. But there are some pretty damn genius performances in Mel Brooks movies (Oscar nominated performances even!). So, taking this movie for what it is, this performance is pretty damn genius. Get on board for the Tiffany Haddish nomination!

November 12, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterCharlieG

Groupthink is a killer. Why y’all mad?

November 13, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterBD

chris, good article! i personally think you're over-generous here, but generous is never a bad thing. without question it's a star-making piece of work from tiffany haddish. i personally found her to be a little strident and unable to fully build a character, but part of it was that the film itself is so badly made (no shot is really composed...they just kind of put a camera in front of people and shot what they got...even if you're "just a comedy" you can still set up your shots). i had trouble believing that the four of them were friends at all, let alone friends for two decades. i agree with most of the thread that Bridesmaids is an infinitely better film. but haddish is super talented...not oscar-nomination material IMO, but i enjoyed your very thoughtful article.

November 14, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterEricB

Ty - but Bridemaids and Girls Trip were both well reviewed (much as I hate the narrative around Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, they are within a few points of one another). And Bridesmaids also had the benefit of an entire summer movie season to make the $50M difference in their grosses. I'm finding a lot of people are forgetting the kind of rebuttals Bridesmaids had re: Oscar nominations at this time in the cycle

November 14, 2017 | Registered CommenterChris Feil

For real. "Bridesmaids" was doubted by so many all the way up to Oscar night. We see this more frequently than we collectively like to admit. There's always that one film or performance in the year everybody doubts (whether it be a comedy film, or an actor who was once a laughing stock - Robert Pattinson, this year).

Haddish just won NYFCC. Her role in-contention just started. It's entirely possible.

December 2, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPaul
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