Three stressed single moms take a weekend jaunt to a luxury spa—but their wild friend crashes their trip and causes lots of chaos. A message about self care can’t overcome a barrage of crass sexual content, drinking, drug use and a whole lot of harsh language.
Jane, Sophie, Coco and Mel were the best of friends growing up. They still are, but their now grown-up responsibilities have limited their opportunities to spend time with each other.
Jane is a busy lawyer and single mother to two kids. Sophie works for a wealthy and demanding boss. Coco is struggling in the wake of her divorce. And Mel—well, apparently, she’s mega-rich and gallivanting through Europe.
So when Jane, Sophie and Coco decide they need a spa trip to help them break away from the overwhelming busyness of their lives, they’re happy enough not to invite Mel, who’s a bit … chaotic.
Upon arriving at the high-end spa, the women are confident that a weekend of rest and relaxation awaits them.
Then Hot Mess Mel shows up.
So much for a relaxing weekend.
Despite their divorce, Coco’s ex-husband still cares for her and even encourages Coco to consider therapy to help with her longstanding anger issues. Sophie is a genuinely kind person who enjoys being nice to other people. And while Mel’s efforts are often ill-advised or misguided, she does try to help her friends with their struggles.
A character makes a self-sacrificial choice.
The woman who manages the spa is said to look like “girl Jesus.”
The spa itself has something of a New Age vibe; staff greet their guests by saying “namaste.” One person pairs this greeting with steepled hands and a bow. There’s talk of guided meditations; we see part of one of these sessions that includes a man in monk’s robes. People do yoga. A man discusses tantric massage.
Jane has a fling with the spa’s yoga instructor, Kai. Kai gives Jane a tantric hand massage which arouses her. Soon after, they have sex, and we see the pair kiss passionately, Jane takes off Kai’s shirt and begins to remove his pants before the scene cuts away. Later, Jane and Kai share a few smooches, and Kai expresses a desire for a more serious relationship.
Circumstances bring Coco’s ex-husband, Roger, to the spa and they begin to reconnect. They flirt, shower together (while in their bathing suits) and we later hear they had sex. This happens despite the fact that Roger is in a committed relationship with another woman at the time. And it’s implied that Roger may have cheated on Coco with that same woman before, which contributed to their divorce.
During a session of “goat yoga,” Mel pantomimes sex with one of the goats. More of this scene shows up in the end credits as well, involving sexual sounds and motions, and Mel jokes that the goat got her pregnant. Mel has a tattoo on her back that depicts her topless. She announces that she will have sex with someone.
One scene includes male strippers who dance suggestively and take off their clothes down to their tight underwear. A stripper removes a man’s sunglasses and rubs them on his crotch.
Jane says that a babysitter she once hired had sex with her boyfriend in Jane’s bed.
Sex is also a frequent topic of conversation in Spa Weekend, often described in the crudest of terms. Mel describes Jane’s body in a vulgar way (which she intends to be complimentary). She also offers to pay a man to have sex with Jane. Casual sex is lauded. Crude slang for male and female anatomy is frequently heard. We hear references to a variety of sexual activities.
Mel talks about (and shows) her collection of sex toys. She suggestively slaps a man’s rear.
Plenty of cleavage is shown throughout the film, and several women wear bikini tops that show a lot of skin. Kai is seen shirtless a few times. People doing yoga wear tight, form-fitting clothing. Someone is asked out on a date.
During the end credits, we see part of a woman’s exposed buttocks as she tries to climb a wall, along with additional crude sexual dialogue.
The violence found in Spa Weekend is of the slapstick variety. Goats break loose and cause destruction in the spa, headbutting a few people. Coco and Mel come to blows, though it’s Sophie who takes the brunt of a punch. Sophie later falls out of a speeding golf cart. Occupants of a golf cart jump from the vehicle before it runs off a cliff and crashes. A woman is smashed into a TV. Another woman takes a painful spill off the top of a wall.
The spa manager tells some women that her security team will “shoot to kill” if they show up on her property again.
The f-word is used more than 50 times, including one instance of “motherf—–.” The s-word is heard more than 30 times. God’s name is misused 30 times, pair once with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is abused four times. Additional profanity includes “b–ch,” “d–k” and “d–khead,” “a–” and “a–hole,” “h—” and “pr–k.” Crude terms “screw it,” “sucks” and “slut” are also heard.
Several people use rude hand gestures.
A woman snorts a line of cocaine off a man’s bare torso. People share marijuana cigarettes. Characters frequently drink wine and champagne throughout the film, and a few characters appear drunk. Someone chugs a miniature liquor bottle. Partygoers drink and dance, and we see a bunch of empty bottles in the party’s aftermath. People partake in a wine tasting. A woman talks about her “margarita machine.”
Someone jokes about going to a therapist so they can get drugs. One character says she has a history of drunk driving.
Kai gives Jane a sort of self-care pep talk, encouraging her to prioritize herself over family and work responsibilities. While at the spa, Jane tells her friends that she doesn’t miss her kids. She also likens a mammogram to a massage.
Someone mentions a gambling addiction. Mel implies she may be running a pyramid scheme. Sophie’s boss is demanding and unkind to her.
A character steals a car and a golf cart. A group of people trespass on private property. Someone is referred to as a “fungus.”
Spa Weekend is a comedy about a group of friends who try to reconnect while escaping from the overwhelming busyness of their lives. But the antics here are lewd and crude, with the film seemingly positioning itself as a girls’ trip version of the (equally vulgar, if more visually explicit) Hangover movies.
Blech.
There is an effort made to share a message about self care, which is at least somewhat admirable. It’s never a bad thing to be reminded that we also need to take care of ourselves from time to time—especially if we, like Jane, feel pulled in many different directions.
But it’s the way Spa Weekend presents this message that bothers me. Do what you want when you want it, the movie seems to say, and those who depend on you can manage in the meantime. It’s self care that creeps oddly close to selfishness.
Still, even if this flick had delivered on its messages with aplomb, that wouldn’t make up for the constant barrage of vulgar sexual dialogue, suggestive scenes, drug use, alcohol abuse and torrent of harsh language.
Spa Weekend is less like a mud bath at a luxury spa and more like a wallow in a pigsty.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
