Tripped Up (2023)

3 Stars (out of 4)

By Hook or By Cook

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Though lightweight and predictable, this girl-bonding road-trip comedy with yummy food is a sheer delight, thanks mostly to the genuine — and very funny — chemistry between the four diverse women.

Lizzy (Leah Lewis) dreams of being a chef. While on a cooking competition TV show, her work is sabotaged by her competitor, and she winds up disgraced. Years later, she's working an exhausting job at the "fish station" for a tyrannical chef.

But when a slot turns up at the outdoor Saucy Food Festival, Lizzy jumps at the chance. She drags along her three lifelong best friends, Mary (Ashley Moore), Kai (Ariel Winter), and Taylor (Sasha Fox), for a weekend of mishaps, arguments, delicious food, renewing old bonds, and finding new ones.

At one point in Tripped Up, Taylor explains to a new friend that, while she has little in common with her friends today, they have bonds that run back years and go deep, and they know each other in ways that no one else could. This unique friendship comes through in wonderful ways, via shorthand references, relentless teasing, vulgar jokes, constant bickering, and heartfelt makeups. We get a decent idea of their individual personalities as well, even without much down time.

It's all so pleasing and cheerful that we don't even mind the tacked-on romantic subplots, the montages, and all the other generic stuff. (Additionally, for a food movie, this one doesn't seem to linger much over the delectables; it's pretty, but not as visceral as a good food movie could be. It doesn't make you hungry.) In the end, Tripped Up still leaves you feeling good, like a refreshing weekend getaway.