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Netflix’s party-minded “Carnaval” has a lot on its plate, tackling everything from influencers, the toxic nature of their business and the complexities of making and maintaining female friendships in that industry. Set against the revelry and pageantry of Brazil’s Carnival celebration, director Leandro Neri’s lighthearted romantic comedy delivers hijinks and a few sweet sentiments about having the courage to embrace destiny. Nevertheless, its broad comedy and thoughtful themes aren’t completely cogent, due to a lack of properly motivated character developments and questionable scenarios.

Nina (Giovana Cordeiro) is looking to get away. The 23-year-old social media influencer has been branded the “Crossfit Cuckold” after a viral video circulates showing her equally popular gym rat boyfriend cheating on her. Utterly embarrassed and nursing a broken heart, she’s left down in the dumps, posting sad-sack photos on Instagram as her cathartic cry for help.

The same day her...

"Go to hell, and tag your location once you're there!" Netflix has debuted an official trailer for a very cheesy Brazilian friendship comedy called Carnaval, an obvious "carnal" play on the festive "Carnival" mega party down in Brazil. After a breakup, an influencer takes her friends on a free trip to Bahia's vibrant Carnival, where she learns life's not just about social media likes. Oh boy. "There's nothing better than bouncing back after a betrayal with your best friends in an all-paid-for, all-access, all-you-can-do trip to Salvador during Carnaval." This seems like such an out of place film after the pandemic, but I guess now everyone wants to party. Why not? The film stars Giovana Cordeiro, Gkay, Bruna Inocencio, Samya Pascotto, Gessica Kayane, and Flavia Pavanelli. So much of this is made-for-90s-MTV cringe it's hard to watch. Have fun. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Leandro Neri's Carnaval,...