The Weekend is a 2019 comedy about a comedian who goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
Zadie (Sasheer Zamata) deals with life by standing on stage as a comedian, regaling audiences about her hurdles, which these days focus on her ex-boyfriend, a relationship that ended three years ago. He is Bradford (Tone Bell), a guy who is still her friend, even though she’s yet to get past their history. Thing is, he’s gone and invited her to join him for the weekend at Zadie’s mother Karen’s (Kym Whitley) Bed and Breakfast. The problem though is that Bradford is bringing along his new girlfriend Margo (DeWanda Wise), she waiting on a proposal, though is about as welcome as fungus when she arrives. At the B&B is Aubrey (Y’lan Noel), a good looking man that soon becomes fodder for Zadie to use in trying to make Bradford jealous. Let the games begin.
Written and directed by Stella Meghie, The Weekend is a decidedly lowky affair, small and conversationally centered around whip smart Zamata, who takes to this like it’s personal. Zadie is a wound up young woman, her delivery with a microphone dry and sarcastic, which is eventually discovered to also be her off-stage persona where she is a gatling gun of harsh one-liners and hard cider commentary that works endlessly to keep her as isolated as possible. She is the center of her own spiraling universe and acts like a black hole where no one orbiting her has any hope of breaking free unscathed. She’s not all that likable, which is probably the intent. Soured by life will do that.
The cracks in this plot are fairly obvious from the start, where the plausibility of a character like Zadie even considering doing what she does in spending time with her ex and his new girl hard to get behind, and the script doesn’t take any time in trying to make it convincing. Instead, it simply tosses these people into the blender and presses swirl. What we get then is a contrived story where dots are connected with thick broad strokes, the comedy definitely there but mostly deflated as it can’t get over its own hurdles with any energy.
It’s not all bad of course. If you ‘re a fan of Zamata, and you well should be, the former SNL player remains packed full of charisma, even as she comes off bitter here. The threadbare script keeps nothing a surprise, instead coming off like a loose off-off Broadway play adaptation that serves as a platform for Zamata to riff from start to finish, jumping from one see-through romantic comedy cliché to another. She even makes a joke about just that.
One part watered down Woody Allen and one TV sitcom, The Weekend plays faithfully to the rules and succeeds for what it wants to be, light and breezy, sassy and simple. Kudos to the cast for good efforts, including Noel for wedging himself tightly into the role he takes on well, and more so Wise, who is the ray of sunshine in this dark corner of the world, saddled with the job of being kicked to the side for the sake of the story. She’s fun. The Weekend misses the bigger target but lands a few good shots.