Jamie Dornan Is The Hilarious Himbo We Deserve In ‘Barb and Star’

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar.

All that poor Jamie Dornan wants in Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar—a new comedy from Bridesmaids writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo now available to rent on-demand—is to be an “official couple” with his evil girlfriend.

“You do want to be together, right?” he asks her hopefully, with a face that reminds one of a golden retriever puppy dog. “Be an official couple?”

“Mhm,” responds the villain, played by Wiig in pale make-up and jet-black bowl-cut wig. She doesn’t make eye contact with him. “Yeah!”

It’s one of many times that Dornan, who is best known for playing Christian Grey in the steamy Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, surprised a laugh out of me. His Barb & Star character, a man named Edgar, couldn’t be more different from the possessive Mr. Grey. He’s the classic clueless henchman (see: Kronk in Emperor’s New Groove, Mr. Smee in Peter Pan, Pain & Panic in Hercules), but instead of an animated Disney character, he’s a former model and widely-adored sex symbol.

It’s a brilliant casting choice on the part of the filmmakers—Wiig and Mumolo wrote the script and produced, while Josh Greenbaum directed—and Dornan absolutely knocks it out of the park. He sings (twice!), he dances, he rips off his shirt, and he earnestly listens when two middle-aged ladies ramble on about their life stories. He is, essentially, the himbo we deserve.

The plot of Barb & Star is simple: BFFs Barb (Wiig) and Star (Mumolo) leave their small Midwestern town for a vacation to Florida’s Vista Del Mar. Unfortunately for them, they happen to arrive at the exact same time that a bitter woman with a skin disease named Sharon Gordon Fisherman (also Wiig) is plotting revenge on the town that once bullied her. It’s Edgar’s job to plant a bomb of poisonous mosquitos, set it off, and kill everyone in Vista Del Mar. After he does, Sharon has promised him that they will become an “official couple.” He repeats that phrase at least a half dozen more times throughout the film, and it only gets funnier with each utterance. My personal favorite: “There are lots of people here, lots of… official couples.”

Eventually, Edgar picks up on the fact that Sharon doesn’t love him. He drowns himself in alcohol and ends up having a wild night with Barb and Star. And yes, “wild night” is code for “threesome.” Edgar starts to fall for Star, who just so happens to look identical to his evil unofficial girlfriend, and the two spend a blissful day rubbing obscene amounts of sunscreen on each other. Wiig, a Saturday Night Live alum and one of the most famous comedy actors of modern-day is, of course, consistently hilarious, as is Mumolo, who came up through the improv troupe The Groundlings. That Dornan manages not just to keep up with them, but steal a few scenes is more than a little impressive.

And, wait, wait, here’s the best part: Despite the fact that Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is not really a musical, given that it only features two musical numbers, Dornan inexplicably, delightfully, belts out an original solo number, “Edgar’s Prayer,” with lyrics written by Wiig and Mumolo, performed by Dornan himself. (Yes, it really is Dornan singing in Barb and Star—he also sang a song on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack.) It features him singing lyrics like “I’m climbing a palm tree like a cat,” while climbing a palm tree like a cat, and “I’m flicking my tiptoes to kick up the sand,” while, you guessed it, flicking his tiptoes to kick up the sand. It’s incredible.

It’s hard to explain exactly why it’s so funny, other than the fact that Dornan is giving this ridiculous song his all. He’s kicking up that sand at 110 percent, his amps turned up to 11, and he does it with the confidence of a hot man who knows exactly how to use his body. It’s sexy, it’s hilarious, and it’s incredibly unfair. Hot people aren’t supposed to be funny, too.

Here’s where I’ll confess that I’ve never seen the Fifty Shades movies. I can’t say for certain whether Dornan has had a chance to show off his comedy chops before. But I’ve been led to believe, through advertising and a basic understanding of the plot, that Mr. Christian Grey is not much of a jokester. Dornan’s Barb & Star role feels like it could be the start of a new era of comedy for the romance star. Remember how Chris Hemsworth’s surprise hilarity in Ghostbusters opened the doors for the action star to finally be funny, in the Thor movies and beyond? Now it’s Dornan’s turn. Clearly, this man was born to be a hilarious himbo. Wiig and Mumolo have finally set him free.

Where to watch Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar