costa!! is a light-hearted, often entertaining, but also easygoing whole ★★☆☆☆

A sequel to the romantic comedy Costa!more than twenty years later? It doesn’t sound very promising. The teenagers who partied in Spain in the successful film by Johan Nijenhuis, or who worked there as props, are now approaching forty. Would they sometimes have a reunion and go wild one last time in the disco? Will it be a story about midlife vicissitudes and lost loves?

It’s good or bad, depending on how you look at it. Of the original actors (including Georgina Verbaan, Daan Schuurmans and Michiel Huisman), only Katja Schuurman returns, as former prop Frida. She became a mother at a young age to Anna (Abbey Hoes), now a serious chemistry student who sees her distant backpack vacation fall into the water.

Anna’s friend Bibi (Stephanie van Eer) persuades her to go to Spain for the first time, where Anna’s father (Roeland Fernhout) owns the legendary club Costa. Faded glory, as it turns out when the friends arrive: Father Thomas is practically bankrupt and the disco is in dire need of a makeover.

costa!!directed by Jon Karthaus (Homies† Bon Bini Holland 2), who wrote the screenplay together with science journalist Diederik Jekel, also follows the experiences of Anna and Bibi’s mothers. They decide to follow their suddenly departed daughters, which leads to mixed feelings for Frida. She prefers to keep her memories of the wild times at the Costa at bay.

The film keeps both storylines in balance and does not lean too heavily towards nostalgia. It is a light-hearted, often entertaining, but also easygoing whole. Just like in the first part, in costa!! a contest where all credibility is thrown out the window. This also applies to the way in which the disco is refurbished (a model, some buckets of paint and the place looks pristine again) or the silly complications surrounding Thomas’ loan from a shady moneylender.

In addition, costa!! something corny with its rap and other youth culture clichés, as if the film is about ten years too late. It is partly offset by the fine acting. Abbey Hoes is an infectious heroine, and Katja Schuurman is also doing well. But Frida’s doubt as to whether it is better to let the past rest is never completely dispelled by this sequel.