''Ibiza'' (later retitled ''Ibiza: Love Drunk'') is a 2018 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Alex Richanbach and written by Lauryn Kahn. Its story follows Harper, a 30-year-old woman from New York who travels to Barcelona on a business trip, which leads to a flirty encounter with a famous DJ. It stars

Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (201 ...

Vanessa Bayer Vanessa Bayer (born November 14, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for being a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 2010 to 2017, which earned her an Emmy nomination. She co-created, co-executive produces, and ...

Phoebe Robinson Phoebe Robinson (born September 28, 1984) is an American comedian, New York Times best-selling writer, and actress based in New York City. Early life and education Robinson grew up in Bedford Heights and Solon, Ohio. She attended high school a ...

Michaela Watkins Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series '' Casual'' and on the short-lived sitcoms '' The Unicorn'' and ''Trophy Wife'', as well as being a cast memb ...

Jordi Mollà Jordi Mollà i Perales (; born 1 July 1968) is a Spanish actor, artist, writer, and filmmaker. He has been nominated three times for the Goya Award for Best Actor for ''The Lucky Star'' (1997), '' Second Skin'' (1999), and '' El cónsul de Sodo ...

, and

Richard Madden Richard Madden (born 18 June 1986) is a Scottish actor. He was cast in his first role at age 11 and made his screen acting debut in 2000. He later began performing on stage whilst a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2007, he ...

. The film was produced by

Gary Sanchez Productions Gary Sanchez Productions was an American film and television production company founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. History Gary Sanchez Productions was founded in 2006 by comedians and filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The company ...

and

Good Universe Good Universe is an American film production company founded by Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane. History In Spring 2012, Good Universe was launched as longtime partners Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane transitioned out of Lionsgate, where Drake served as ...

and was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on May 25, 2018. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Harper is weary of life in New York City working for a PR firm. It does not help that her disgruntled boss Sarah is constantly reciting nasty one-liners at her while failing to recognize her hard work. However, in a surprise move, Sarah informs Harper that she has to fly to Barcelona for the weekend in order to secure a new client, a major opportunity for her to finally show her worth. When Harper informs her friends Nikki and Leah, they decide that they are coming along, whether she likes it or not. Diego, one of the clients in Barcelona, flirts with Nikki and invites them to a nightclub. There, Harper meets the attractive DJ, the superstar Leo West, with whom she has instant chemistry. A man at the club invites the three friends to his place for a party, implying that Leo will be there. Their host promises drugs and possibility of freeing sexual experiences, but they have to suddenly leave when Leah unknowingly fools around with a married man and his wife chases them out with a knife. Before Harper and Leo get a chance to spend any time together, he has to travel to Ibiza for his next gig. Harper has receives many missed calls and messages from her boss, but she doesn't call back right away. The pressure prompts her impulsive decision to fly to Ibiza to meet Leo, despite her work responsibilities and egged on by her friends, to secure the man of her dreams. The three friends arrive in Ibiza, and get sidetracked several times. They are dropped off at a spot to watch the sunset then are stuck there for ages. The taxi who finally picks them up randomly brings them to his house, where they hang out for awhile, and later head out in his limo. Harper finally calls her boss, finding out that the time of her meeting with the client has changed to the morning. She tries to call Leo, but it goes to voicemail, but the message doesn't get sent. Simultaneously he leaves her a voicemail expressing his interest. At the club, Harper finally reunites with Leo, and she talks him into ending his session early so they can then spend a romantic night together before her return to Barcelona. The next day, Harper wakes late, she and Leo separate after a rushed trip to the airport and she misses the flight. Meanwhile, Nikki and Leah plan to impersonate Harper to help her out with Diego's help. Despite securing the deal, Harper's boss discovers that she failed to uphold her responsibilities as she videocalls the meeting and sees Nikki sitting in for her. Back in NYC, Harper is then fired so decides to start her own PR firm, taking former clients Harper liaised with. Later on, Harper receives a call from Leo, who invites her to meet him at a gig in Tokyo. She declines, instead requesting he visit her in New York. Leo agrees and they both confess their feelings for each other. When Harper informs her friends of Leo's call, they tell her that she should have visited Leo, which she disagrees with. That night while on the subway, Harper smiles to herself over her future meeting with him.

Cast

as Harper *

as Nikki *

as Leah *

as Leo West *

as Sarah * Félix Gómez Hernández as Diego *

as Hernando *

Augustus Prew Augustus Prew (born 17 September 1987) is an English film and television actor. He is known for his roles in '' About a Boy'' (2002), ''The Secret of Moonacre'' (2008), '' Charlie St. Cloud'' (2010), '' The Borgias'' (2011), '' Kick-Ass 2'' (20 ...

as Miles *

Anthony Welsh Anthony Michael Welsh (born 5 July 1983) is an English actor. He made his film debut in '' Red Tails'' (2012). On television, he is known for his role as Lucky Gordon in ''The Trial of Christine Keeler'' (2019–2020). Early life and education ...

as Peter *

Humphrey Ker David Humphrey Rivers Ker (; born 11 October 1982) is a British actor, writer and comedian who is a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls. Early life and education Ker was born to David Peter James Ker, a fine art dealer, ...

as James *

Miguel Ángel Silvestre (born 6 April 1982) is a Spanish actor. He rose to prominence with his performance as El Duque in '' Sin tetas no hay paraíso''. He has since played roles in series such as ''Velvet'', ''Sense8'', '' Narcos'', ''30 Coins'' and ''Sky Rojo''. ...

as Manny

Production

In April 2014, Sony Pictures acquired a romantic comedy

spec Spec may refer to: *Specification (technical standard), an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service **datasheet, or "spec sheet" People * Spec Harkness (1887-1952), American professional baseball pitcher ...

script written by Lauryn Kahn, with Alex Richanbach directing, under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''I'm in Love with the DJ''.

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

, Adam McKay, and Kevin Messick served as producers under their

banner. In June 2017,

and

joined the cast of the film, with

producing and distributing instead of Sony.

Nathan Kahane Nathan Kahane is an American film producer, known for being the co-founder of Mandate Pictures and Good Universe. Kahane has served as an executive producer on more than 30 films and oversaw the development and production of the company's growi ...

, Joe Drake, and Erin Westerman will serve as producers under their

banner. In August 2017,

joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on September 5, 2017. The film was shot mostly in Croatia.

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

and

Zrće Zrće (, ) is a long pebble beach on the Adriatic island of Pag and is located on the Dalmatian coast. Zrće is located near the town of Novalja and the area of Gajac, about from the town's center. It is one of over 100 Blue Flag beaches in Croa ...

in Croatia doubled as Barcelona, while most Ibiza scenes were filmed in

Krk Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kot ...

, Croatia.

Reception

''Ibiza'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The critical consensus reads: "''Ibiza'' settles into an amiable comedic groove enlivened by its talented stars, even if the end result is fittingly somewhat narratively hazy." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''Ibiza'' scored 56 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Controversy

The filmmakers sought cooperation with the local government of Ibiza, but the film was opposed by the Consell d'Eivissa, and the film was ultimately filmed in Croatia. Ibiza island authorities are reportedly preparing a lawsuit against Netflix for abusing the Ibiza brand and for allegedly depicting a stereotypical and unfavorable image of the island.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, tt3685236 2018 films 2018 romantic comedy films 2010s buddy comedy films 2010s female buddy films American buddy comedy films American female buddy films American romantic comedy films 2010s English-language films Films about DJs Films produced by Will Ferrell Films set in Barcelona Films set in Ibiza Films set in New York City Films shot in Croatia Gary Sanchez Productions films English-language Netflix original films 2010s American films 2018 directorial debut films